Depth map encoding method and apparatus thereof, and depth map decoding method and apparatus thereof

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is a depth map frame decoding method including reconstructing a color frame obtained from a bitstream based on encoding information of the color frame; splitting a largest coding unit of a depth map frame obtained from the bitstream into one or more coding units based on split information of the depth map frame; splitting the one or more coding units into one or more prediction units for prediction decoding; determining whether to split a current prediction unit into at least one partition and decode the current prediction unit by obtaining information indicating whether to split the current prediction unit into the at least one or more partitions from the bitstream; if it is determined that the current prediction unit is to be decoded by being split into the at least one or more partitions, obtaining prediction information of the one or more prediction units from the bitstream and determining whether to decode the current prediction unit by using differential information indicating a difference between a depth value of the at least one or more partitions corresponding to an original depth map frame and a depth value of the at least one or more partitions predicted from neighboring blocks of the current prediction unit; and decoding the current prediction unit by using the differential information based on whether to split the current prediction unit into the at least one or more partitions and whether to use the differential information.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a U.S. national stage application under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of International Application No. PCT/KR2014/003010, filed on Apr. 7, 2014, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, which claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/808,876, filed on Apr. 5, 2013, in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

1. FIELD

Methods and apparatuses consistent with exemplary embodiments relate to encoding and decoding of video data including a depth image.

2. DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART

As hardware for reproducing and storing high resolution or high quality video content has been developed, there is an increasing need for a video codec capable of effectively encoding or decoding the high resolution or high quality video content. According to a conventional video codec, video is encoded according to a limited encoding method based on a coding unit having a tree structure.

Image data of the space domain is transformed into coefficients of the frequency domain via frequency transformation. According to a video codec, an image is split into blocks having a predetermined size, discrete cosine transformation (DCT) is performed on each block, and frequency coefficients are encoded in block units, for rapid calculation of frequency transformation. Compared with image data of the space domain, coefficients of the frequency domain are easily compressed. In particular, because an image pixel value of the space domain is expressed according to a prediction error via inter prediction or intra prediction of a video codec, when frequency transformation is performed on the prediction error, a large amount of data may be transformed to zero. According to a video codec, an amount of data may be reduced by replacing data that is consecutively and repeatedly generated with smaller sized data.

A three-dimensional (3D) video codec encodes and decodes color frames and depth map frames. An amount of data of the color map frames and the depth frames may be reduced based on correlations between the color map frames and the corresponding depth map frames.

SUMMARY

Aspects of the exemplary embodiments relate to a method and an apparatus for efficiently encoding a depth map image and a method and an apparatus for efficiently decoding a depth map in order to provide 3D video.

According to an aspect of an exemplary embodiment, a depth map frame decoding method comprising: reconstructing a color frame obtained from a bitstream based on encoding information of the color frame; splitting a largest coding unit of a depth map frame obtained from the bitstream into one or more coding units based on split information of the depth map frame; splitting the one or more coding units into one or more prediction units for prediction decoding; determining whether to split a current prediction unit into at least one partition and decode the current prediction unit by obtaining information indicating whether to split the current prediction unit into the at least one or more partitions from the bitstream; if it is determined that the current prediction unit is to be decoded by being split into the at least one or more partitions, obtaining prediction information of the one or more prediction units from the bitstream and determining whether to decode the current prediction unit by using differential information indicating a difference between a depth value of the at least one or more partitions corresponding to an original depth map frame and a depth value of the at least one or more partitions predicted from neighboring blocks of the current prediction unit; and decoding the current prediction unit by using the differential information based on whether to split the current prediction unit into the at least one or more partitions and whether to use the differential information.

The prediction information of the one or more prediction units comprises a flag indicating whether to perform decoding using the differential information included in the bitstream, wherein the determining of whether to decode the current prediction unit by using the differential information comprises determining whether to decode the current prediction unit by using the differential information based on the flag, and wherein the decoding of the current prediction unit comprises obtaining the differential information from the bitstream and decoding the current prediction unit by using the differential information.

The splitting of the one or more coding units into the one or more prediction units for prediction decoding comprises: splitting the one or more coding units into the one or more prediction units based on information of at least one of a prediction mode and a partition mode of the one or more coding units obtained from the bitstream and determining a structure of the one or more coding units.

The differential information comprises information indicating the difference between the depth value of the at least one or more partitions corresponding to the original depth map frame and the depth value of the at least one or more partitions predicted from the neighboring blocks of the current prediction unit.

The decoding comprises: if it is determined that the current prediction unit is to be decoded without using the differential information, decoding the current prediction unit without obtaining the differential information from the bitstream. The differential information comprises a delta constant partition value (delta DC).

The information indicating whether to split the current prediction unit into the at least one or more partitions comprises a flag indicating a predetermined intra prediction mode in which the current prediction unit is decoded by being split into the at least one or more partitions. The predetermined intra prediction mode comprises a depth modeling mode (DMM).

According to an aspect of an exemplary embodiment, a depth map frame encoding method comprising: generating a bitstream comprising encoding information generated by encoding a color frame; splitting a largest coding unit of a depth map frame into one or more coding units; splitting the one or more coding units into one or more prediction units for prediction encoding; if the one or more coding units are split into the one or more prediction units, determining whether to split and prediction encode a current prediction unit into at least one partition; if it is determined that the current prediction unit is to be prediction encoded by being split into the at least one or more partitions, determining whether to prediction encode the current prediction unit by using differential information indicating a difference between a depth value of the at least one or more partitions corresponding to an original depth map frame and a depth value of the at least one or more partitions predicted from neighboring blocks of the current prediction unit; and prediction encoding the current prediction unit by using the differential information based on whether to split the current prediction unit into the at least one or more partitions and whether to use the differential information.

The depth map frame encoding method further comprises generating a bitstream comprising a flag indicating whether to prediction encode the current prediction unit by using the differential information.

The splitting of the largest coding unit of the depth map frame into the one or more coding units comprises determining a structure of the largest coding unit by splitting the largest coding unit of the depth map frame into the one or more coding units, and wherein the splitting of the one or more coding units into the one or more prediction units for prediction encoding comprises determining a structure of the one or more coding units by splitting the one or more coding units into the one or more prediction units for prediction encoding.

The prediction encoding comprises generating a flag indicating a predetermined intra prediction mode in which the current prediction unit is encoded by being split into the at least one or more partitions, and further comprises: generating a bitstream comprising the flag.

The predetermined intra prediction mode comprises a depth modeling mode (DMM).

According to an aspect of an exemplary embodiment, a depth map frame decoding apparatus comprising: a color frame decoder for reconstructing a color frame obtained from a bitstream based on encoding information of the color frame; a depth map frame decoder for splitting a largest coding unit of a depth map frame obtained from the bitstream into one or more coding units based on split information of the depth map frame and splitting the one or more coding units into one or more prediction units for prediction decoding; and a depth map prediction mode determiner for determining whether to split a current prediction unit into at least one partition and decode the current prediction unit by obtaining information indicating whether to split the current prediction unit into the at least one or more partitions from the bitstream, and if it is determined that the current prediction unit is to be decoded by being split into the at least one or more partitions, obtaining prediction information of the one or more prediction units from the bitstream and determining whether to decode the current prediction unit by using differential information indicating a difference between a depth value of the at least one or more partitions corresponding to an original depth map frame and a depth value of the at least one or more partitions predicted from neighboring blocks of the current prediction unit, wherein the depth map frame decoder decodes the current prediction unit by using the differential information based on whether to split the current prediction unit into the at least one or more partitions and whether to use the differential information.

According to another aspect of an exemplary embodiment, there is provided a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a computer program for executing the depth map frame decoding method.

A depth map frame decoding apparatus may perform an operation of unnecessarily obtaining differential information from a bitstream even though the differential information is unused. Thus, a depth map frame decoding apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment a prediction unit satisfying a predetermined condition by using differential information in relation to the prediction unit and determine whether to perform prediction decoding, and may not perform an operation of obtaining, from a bitstream, differential information in relation to a prediction unit that does not satisfy the predetermined condition. That is, the differential information is transmitted for each partition of the prediction unit. When the differential information in relation to the prediction unit is zero, the depth map frame decoding apparatus may not obtain the value to determine whether the differential information is zero. However, according to an exemplary embodiment, when a depth map frame encoding apparatus determines and sends the differential information, if the differential information within the prediction unit is zero, a flag is set as “1” and is transmitted by being included in the bitstream. When the depth map frame decoding apparatus decodes a depth map in a depth modeling mode (DMM), the depth map frame decoding apparatus may not obtain the differential information according to the value of the flag included in the bitstream, but may instead decode a current prediction unit. Thus, the depth map frame decoding apparatus may not unnecessarily perform an operation of obtaining the differential information.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and/or other aspects will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the exemplary embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1A is a block diagram of a depth map frame encoding apparatus, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 1B is a flowchart of a depth map frame encoding method, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 2A is a block diagram of a depth map frame decoding apparatus, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 2B is a flowchart of a depth map frame decoding method, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a diagram of video frames and depth map frames obtained by a depth camera, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIGS. 4A and 4B are diagrams for describing a depth modeling mode (DMM) that is a mode for encoding and decoding a depth map frame using differential information according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a method in which a depth map decoding apparatus decodes a current prediction unit using differential information according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 6A illustrates an example of a syntax for decoding a current prediction unit by using differential information based on prediction information of the current prediction unit according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 6B illustrates an example of a syntax for decoding a current prediction unit by using differential information based on prediction information of the current prediction unit according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a video encoding apparatus based on coding units according to a tree structure, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a video decoding apparatus based on coding units according to a tree structure, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 9 is a diagram for describing a concept of coding units according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an image encoder based on coding units, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of an image decoder based on coding units, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating deeper coding units according to depths, and partitions, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 13 is a diagram for describing a relationship between a coding unit and transformation units, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 14 is a diagram for describing encoding information of coding units corresponding to a depth, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 15 is a diagram of deeper coding units according to depths, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIGS. 16 through 18 are diagrams for describing a relationship between coding units, prediction units, and transformation units, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 19 is a diagram for describing a relationship between a coding unit, a prediction unit, and a transformation unit, according to encoding mode information of Table 1;

FIG. 20 is a diagram of a physical structure of a disc in which a program is stored, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 21 is a diagram of a disc drive for recording and reading a program by using a disc;

FIG. 22 is a diagram of an overall structure of a content supply system for providing a content distribution service;

FIGS. 23 and 24 are diagrams respectively of an external structure and an internal structure of a mobile phone to which a video encoding method and a video decoding method are applied, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 25 is a diagram of a digital broadcast system to which a communication system is applied, according to an exemplary embodiment; and

FIG. 26 is a diagram illustrating a network structure of a cloud computing system using a video encoding apparatus and a video decoding apparatus, according to an exemplary embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

An optimally encoded prediction mode is selected based on cost. In this regard, differential information may include information indicating a difference between a representative value of a partition corresponding to an original depth map and a representative value of a partition predicted from neighboring blocks of a current prediction unit. The differential information may include delta constant partition value (CPV)(Delta DC). The delta CPV (Delta DC) means a difference between a DC value of the original depth map partition and a DC value of the predicted partition. For example, the DC value of the original depth map partition may be an average of depth values of blocks included in the partition. The DC value of the predicted partition may be an average of depth values of neighboring blocks of the partition or an average of depth values of partial neighboring blocks of the partition.

A depth map frame encoder 16 intra prediction decodes the current prediction unit by using the differential information based on whether to split the partition of the current prediction unit and whether to use the differential information determined by a depth map prediction mode determiner 14.

Meanwhile, the depth map frame encoder 16 may encode a depth map frame by using encoding information of a color video frame. As described above, in particular, the depth map frame encoder 16 according to an exemplary embodiment may, in consideration of correlations between the depth map frame and the color video frame corresponding to the depth map frame when encoding the depth map frame, split, into partitions, a block of the color video frame reconstructed after having been previously encoded to determine correlations based on pixel values, determine parameters defining correlations between a color image and a depth map image for each partition in consideration of correlations between adjacent neighboring pixels, and predict a depth map frame block partition corresponding to a color video frame block partition reconstructed after having been previously encoded using the determined parameters. In particular, the depth map frame encoder 16 may generate a bitstream including encoding information of an encoded color frame, encoding information of a depth map frame corresponding to the color frame, and information regarding correlations between the color image and the depth map image.

The depth map frame encoder 16 may generate a bitstream including a flag indicating whether to perform prediction encoding using the differential information. The depth map frame encoder 16 may generate a flag indicating a predetermined intra prediction mode in which the current prediction unit is encoded by being split into one or more partitions and generate the bitstream including the generated flag. The predetermined intra prediction mode may include a depth modeling mode (DMM). In this regard, the DMM is an intra prediction mode in which a prediction mode of a depth map is split into one or more partitions to prediction encode the prediction unit for an efficient compression when intra predicting the prediction unit. The DMM will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 4.

An operation of a depth map frame encoding apparatus 10 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 1B.

FIG. 1B is a flowchart of a depth map frame encoding method, according to an exemplary embodiment.

In operation 11, the color frame encoder 12 generates a bitstream including encoding information generated by encoding a color frame.

In operation 13, the depth map frame encoder 16 encodes a largest coding unit of a depth map frame into one or more coding units. The depth map frame encoder 16 splits the largest coding unit of the depth map frame into coding units of various forms, encodes the split coding units, and determines a rate-distortion cost. The depth map frame encoder 16 determines an optimal structure of the largest coding unit based on the determined rate-distortion cost.

In operation 15, the depth map frame encoder 16 splits the coding units into one or more prediction units for prediction encoding. The depth map frame encoder 16 splits the coding units of the depth map frame into prediction units of various forms according to various prediction modes, encodes the split coding units, and determines a rate-distortion cost. The depth map frame encoder 16 determines an optimal structure of coding units based on the determined rate-distortion cost.

In operation 17, if the coding units are split into one or more prediction units, the depth map prediction mode determiner 14 determines whether to split the current prediction unit into one or more partitions and prediction encode the current prediction unit. Meanwhile, the depth map frame encoder 16 splits the current prediction unit into partitions of various forms, prediction encodes the current prediction unit, and determines a rate-distortion cost. The depth map prediction mode determiner 14 determines whether to split the current prediction unit into one or more partitions and prediction encode the current prediction unit based on the determined rate-distortion cost.

In operation 18, if it is determined that the current prediction unit is prediction encoded by being split into one or more partitions, the depth map prediction mode determiner 14 determines whether to prediction encode the current prediction unit using differential information indicating a difference between a depth value of a partition corresponding to an original depth map and a depth value of a partition predicted from neighboring blocks of the current prediction unit. Likewise, the depth map frame encoder 16 splits the current prediction unit into one or more partitions in various forms, encodes the current prediction unit, and determines a rate-distortion cost. The depth map prediction mode determiner 14 determines whether to prediction encode the current prediction unit using the differential information based on the determined rate-distortion cost. The depth map prediction mode determiner 14 determines whether to split the current prediction unit into one or more partitions and prediction encode the current prediction unit based on the determined rate-distortion cost.

In operation 19, the depth map frame encoder 16 prediction encodes the current prediction unit using differential information based on whether to split the current prediction unit into partitions and whether to use the differential information.

The depth map frame encoding apparatus 10 according to an exemplary embodiment may include a central processor that generally controls the depth map prediction mode determiner 14 and the depth map frame encoder 16. Alternatively, the depth map prediction mode determiner 14 and the depth map frame encoder 16 may operate by their respective processors, and the depth map frame encoding apparatus 10 may generally operate according to interactions of the processors. Alternatively, the color frame encoder 12, the depth map prediction mode determiner 14, and the depth map frame encoder 16 may be controlled according to the control of an external processor of the depth map frame encoding apparatus 10.

The depth map frame encoding apparatus 10 may include one or more data storage units (i.e., memories) in which input and output data of the depth map prediction mode determiner 14 and the depth map frame encoder 16 is stored. The depth map frame encoding apparatus 10 may include a memory control unit that observes data input and output of the data storage units.

The depth map frame encoding apparatus 10 may operate in connection with an internal video encoding processor or an external video encoding processor to output video encoding results, thereby performing a video encoding operation including transformation. The internal video encoding processor of the depth map frame encoding apparatus 10 may be implemented by a central processor or a graphic processor as well as a separate processor.

FIG. 2A is a block diagram of a depth map frame decoding apparatus, according to an exemplary embodiment.

The depth map frame decoding apparatus 20 according to an exemplary embodiment includes a color frame decoder 22, a depth map prediction mode determiner 24, and a depth map frame decoder 26. The depth map prediction mode determiner 24 may be included in the depth map frame decoder 26. The depth map prediction mode determiner 24 according to an exemplary embodiment may be external to the depth map frame decoder 26.

Referring to FIG. 2A, the color frame decoder 22 reconstructs a color frame obtained from a bitstream based on encoding information of the color frame.

The depth map frame decoder 26 splits a largest coding unit of a depth map frame into one or more coding units based on split information of a depth map frame obtained from the bitstream. The depth map frame decoder 26 splits the coding units into one or more prediction units for prediction decoding. The depth map frame decoder 26 decodes a current prediction unit based on whether to split the current prediction unit into partitions and whether to use differential information. In this regard, the depth map frame decoder 26 intra prediction decodes the current prediction unit using the differential information.

The depth map frame decoder 26 may receive a bitstream including encoding information of the depth map frame, the encoding information of the color frame corresponding to the encoding information of the depth map frame, and information regarding correlation between the color frame and the depth map frame corresponding to the color frame. The depth map frame decoding apparatus 20 may reconstruct the color frame from the bitstream. The depth map frame decoder 26 may decode the depth map frame corresponding to the color frame using the color frame reconstructed after being decoded. In particular, the depth map frame decoder 26 according to an exemplary embodiment may split, into partitions, a block of the color frame reconstructed after having been previously encoded to determine correlations based on pixel values, in consideration of correlation between the depth map frame and a color frame corresponding to the depth map frame when encoding the depth map frame, determine parameters defining correlation between a color image and a depth map image for each partition in consideration of correlations between adjacent neighboring pixels, and predict a depth map frame block partition corresponding to a color video frame block partition reconstructed after having been previously encoded using the determined parameters.

Meanwhile, the depth map frame decoder 26 may generate a 3D image using the decoded depth map frame and the decoded color frame corresponding to the decoded depth map frame. In this regard, the decoded color frame may be received from an external source. In more detail, the depth map frame decoder 26 may generate multi-view images, such as a left view image and a right view image, based on encoding information of the decoded depth map frame, encoding information of the decoded color frame corresponding to the decoded depth map frame, and the information regarding correlation between the color frame and the depth map frame.

The depth map frame decoder 26 may obtain differential information from the bitstream and decode the current prediction unit using the differential information. If it is determined that the current prediction unit is decoded without using the differential information, the depth map frame decoder 26 may not obtain the differential information from the bitstream, and decode the current prediction unit.

Meanwhile, the depth map prediction mode determiner 24 obtains information indicating whether to split the current prediction unit into partitions from the bitstream, determines whether to split the current prediction unit into one or more partitions, and decode the current prediction unit. If it is determined that the current prediction unit is decoded by being split into partitions, the depth map prediction mode determiner 24 determines whether to decode the current prediction unit using differential information indicating a difference between a depth value of a partition corresponding to an original depth map frame by obtaining prediction information of prediction units from the bitstream and a depth value of a partition corresponding to the depth map frame by obtaining prediction information of the current prediction unit. Meanwhile, the prediction information of the current prediction unit may include a flag indicating whether to perform decoding using differential information included in the bitstream. The depth map prediction mode determiner 24 may determine whether to perform decoding using the differential information based on a flag included in the bitstream.

Meanwhile, the information indicating whether to split the current prediction unit into partitions may include a flag indicating a predetermined intra prediction mode in which the current prediction unit is decoded by being split into one or more partitions. The depth map prediction mode determiner 24 may determine whether to split the current prediction unit into one or more partitions and decode the current prediction unit based on the flag. In this regard, the predetermined intra prediction mode may include a DMM.

An operation of a depth map frame decoding apparatus 20 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 2B.

FIG. 2B is a flowchart of a depth map frame decoding method, according to an exemplary embodiment.

In operation 21, the color frame decoder 22 reconstructs a color frame based on encoding information of the color frame.

In operation 23, the depth map frame decoder 26 splits a largest coding unit into one or more coding units based on split information of the depth map frame.

In operation 25, the depth map frame decoder 26 splits the coding units into one or more prediction units for prediction decoding.

In operation 27, the depth map prediction mode determiner 24 determines whether to split the current prediction unit into one or more partitions and decode the current prediction unit by obtaining information indicating whether to split a current prediction unit into partitions.

In operation 28, the depth map prediction mode determiner 24 determines whether to decode the current prediction unit using differential information indicating a difference between a depth value of a partition corresponding to an original depth map frame and a depth value of a partition predicted from neighboring blocks of the current prediction unit by obtaining prediction information of prediction units from the bitstream.

In operation 29, the depth map frame decoder 26 decodes the current prediction unit using the differential information based on whether to split the current prediction unit into partitions and whether to use the differential information. In this regard, the depth map frame decoder 26 may intra prediction decode the current prediction unit.

The depth map frame decoding apparatus 20 according to an exemplary embodiment may include a central processor that generally controls the depth map prediction mode determiner 24 and the depth map frame decoder 26. Alternatively, the depth map prediction mode determiner 24 and the depth map frame decoder 26 may operate by respective processors, and the depth map frame decoding apparatus 20 may generally operate according to interactions of the processors. Alternatively, the depth map prediction mode determiner 24 and the depth map frame decoder 26 may be controlled according to the control of an external processor of the depth map frame decoding apparatus 20.

The depth map frame decoding apparatus 20 according to an exemplary embodiment may include one or more data storage units (i.e., memories) in which input and output data of the depth map prediction mode determiner 24 and the depth map frame decoder 26 is stored. The depth map frame decoding apparatus 20 may include a memory control unit that observes data input and output of the data storage units.

The depth map frame decoding apparatus 20 according to an exemplary embodiment may operate in connection with an internal video decoding processor or an external video decoding processor to output video decoding results, thereby performing a video decoding operation including inverse transformation. The internal video decoding processor of the depth map frame decoding apparatus 20 may be implemented by a central processor or a graphic processor as well as a separate processor.

FIG. 3 is a diagram of video frames and depth map frames obtained by a depth camera, according to an exemplary embodiment.

A depth map frame 32 corresponding to a color video frame is illustrated. The color frame 31 of FIG. 3 may be one of a brightness component video frame Y or chroma component video frames Cb, Cr.

Referring to FIG. 3, correlations between color video frames and depth map frames of the same view are present because the color video frames and the depth map frames represent images of the same time and view in colors and depths, respectively. Thus, the depth map frame encoding apparatus 10 and the depth map frame decoding apparatus 20 according to an exemplary embodiment encode the corresponding depth map frame 32 from the color video frame 31 in consideration of correlations between the color video frame 31 and the corresponding depth map frame 32, thereby improving compression efficiency of video data. That is, the depth map frame encoding apparatus 10 according to an exemplary embodiment may encode the depth map frame 32 based on encoding information of the color frame 31.

In particular, the depth map frame encoding apparatus 10 and the depth map frame decoding apparatus 20 according to an exemplary embodiment may split a block of the color video frame 31 into partitions based on pixel values, split a block of the depth map frame 32 into partitions in the same manner as the block of the color video frame 31, obtain parameters indicating correlations between the block partitions of the color video frame 31 and the block partitions of the depth map frame 32 using neighboring pixel values of the block partitions of the color video frame 31 and neighboring pixel values of the block partitions of the depth map frame 32, and predict the block partitions of the corresponding depth map frame 32 from the block partitions of the color video frame 31 using the correlations determined by using the obtained parameters

Methods of encoding and decoding a prediction unit of a depth map frame using differential information according to an exemplary embodiment are described with reference to FIGS. 4A through 6B.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are diagrams for describing a depth modeling mode (DMM) that is a mode for encoding and decoding a depth map frame using differential information according to an exemplary embodiment.

A depth map is characterized by sharp corners and approximately same values in a wide area. The DMM according to an exemplary embodiment that efficiently intra predicts the depth map using such a characteristic will be described with reference to FIGS. 4A and 4B.

Referring to FIG. 4A, a current prediction unit of the depth map may be split into partitions 41 and 42 or partitions 43 and 44. The type of the partitions may be the partitions 41 and 42 that are split in relation to a straight line and the partitions 43 and 44 that are split in relation to a contour line, but the partitions are not limited thereto. The current prediction unit may be split into one or more partitions in various ways. For example, the depth map frame encoding apparatus 10 may attempt all splitting using a depth value of the current prediction unit and search for an optimal partition splitting shape in consideration of a rate-distortion cost in order to split the current prediction unit into partitions. For example, the optimal partition splitting shape may be determined based on an edge detected by applying various edge detection methods, such as a Sobel algorithm. Alternatively, the depth map frame encoding apparatus 10 may determine the splitting shape with reference to a color frame corresponding to the depth map frame. For example, the depth map frame encoding apparatus 10 may average pixel values of the color frame corresponding to the current prediction unit, and then, when each pixel value is greater than an average, split the current prediction unit into the partitions 43, when each pixel value is smaller than the average, split the current prediction unit into the partitions 44, and split the current prediction unit into the partitions 43 and 44 in relation to the corresponding depth map frame. When the current prediction unit is split as described above, a prediction value of each partition may be determined.

A method of determining the prediction value according to an exemplary embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 4B. Referring to FIG. 4B, the depth map frame encoding apparatus 10 predicts a depth value of a partition. For example, the depth map frame encoding apparatus 10 determines the depth value of a corresponding partition using neighboring blocks 46 of the current prediction unit. Alternatively, in case of a partition P1, a prediction depth value may be determined by calculating an average depth value of the neighboring blocks 46 of the partition P₁. The determined prediction depth value of the partition is referred to as a constant partition value (CPV). Meanwhile, the depth map frame encoding apparatus 10 may determine a depth value of a partition of an original depth map. In this regard, the depth value of the partition of the original depth map may include an average value of blocks included in the partition of the original depth map. A difference value between the prediction value and the depth value of the partition of the original depth map is referred to as a delta CPV. The calculated delta CPV is transmitted to a decoding apparatus. The depth map frame encoding apparatus 10 performs a process of optimizing the delta CPV based on a rate-distortion cost.

Referring to FIG. 4B, a right figure is a graph showing CPVs of blocks on a line 45 of a left figure. A horizontal axis μ is located in relation to a leftmost block. A vertical axis W indicates a depth value. W_(predP1) denotes a CPV predicted in relation to the partition P1. W_(predP2) denotes a CPV predicted in relation to a partition P2. W_(origP1) denotes a CPV of the partition P1 of an original depth map. W_(origP2) denotes a CPV of the partition P2 of the original depth map. A difference occurs between the CPV of the original depth map and the predicted CPV. Difference values ΔWp1, ΔWp2 for the partitions 1 and 2 are delta CPVs.

The depth map frame decoding apparatus 20 may reconstruct the delta CPV via entropy decoding, inverse quantization, and inverse transformation. The depth map frame decoding apparatus 20 may predict a value of each partition from neighboring blocks of a prediction unit. A partition of the depth map frame may be reconstructed by adding the delta CPV to the predicted value. In this regard, when the depth map frame encoding apparatus 10 does not transmit the delta CPV, the depth map frame decoding apparatus 20 merely reconstructs a predicted CPV when reconstructing the partition of the depth map frame and may not reconstruct a CPV of the original depth map, and thus a distortion occurs.

Meanwhile, various DMMs in which a current prediction unit is predicted by being split into partitions may be used, but the DMMs are not so limited, for efficient intra prediction of the depth map frame when the depth map frame is decoded. A mode “MODE_DMM_WFULL” is an intra prediction mode in which only a current prediction encoding block is used to search for wedgelete partitions. In this regard, the wedgelete partitions are two partitions split from the current prediction encoding block in relation to a diagonal line. A mode “MODE_DMM_WPREDIR” is an intra prediction mode in which neighboring blocks of the current prediction encoding block are used to search for the wedgelete partitions. A mode “MODE_DMM_WPREDTEX” is a mode in which the wedgelete partitions are searched for from a block of a corresponding color frame. The wedgelete partitions may be searched for based on correlations between the corresponding color frame and a current depth map frame. A mode “MODE_DMM_CPREDTEX” is a mode in which contour partitions are searched for from a block of the corresponding color frame. In this regard, the contour partitions are two partitions split from the current prediction encoding block in relation to a contour line.

Meanwhile, areas of split partitions are predicted as average values of neighboring pixels of the current prediction encoding block. In this regard, the modes described above may include a sub mode MODE_DMM_xxxx in which average values of neighboring pixels are used as they are and a sub mode MODE_DMM_xxxxDELTA in which values obtained by adding the delta DC to average values of neighboring pixels are used. Thus, four modes in which values obtained by adding the delta DC to the four DMMs are used may be used. In this regard, the delta DC means the delta CPV.

However, types and number of partitions are not limited and the current prediction unit may be split into partitions of various shapes. A current block, neighboring blocks, or a block of a corresponding color frame are not limited to use in searching for partitions. The depth map frame encoding apparatus 10 may search for partitions by using other blocks.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a method in which a depth map decoding apparatus decodes a current prediction unit using differential information according to an exemplary embodiment.

In operation 51, the depth map prediction mode determiner 24 obtains information “DmmFlag” indicating whether to split a current prediction unit into partitions and determines whether to split and decode the current prediction unit into one or more partitions from the information “DmmFlag” indicating whether to split the current prediction unit into partitions. That is, “DmmFlag” determines whether to split and decode the current prediction unit into one or more partitions. “DmmFlag” may be obtained from a received bitstream. If “DmmFlag” is 1, it may be determined that the current prediction unit is decoded by being split into one or more partitions. If “DmmFlag” is 0, it may be determined that the current prediction unit is not decoded by being split into one or more partitions.

In operation 52, if “DmmFlag” is 1, the depth map prediction mode determiner 24 obtains prediction information of the current prediction unit. In this regard, “Delta_dc_flag” may be obtained as prediction information of the current prediction unit. “Delta_dc_flag” may be obtained from the received bitstream.

In operation 53, the depth map prediction mode determiner 24 determines whether to prediction encode the current prediction unit using differential information of the current prediction unit from the obtained prediction information “Delta_dc_flag” of the current prediction unit. If “Delta_dc_flag” is 1, the depth map prediction mode determiner 24 may determine that the current prediction unit is decoded using the differential information of the current prediction unit. If “Delta_dc_flag” is 0, the depth map prediction mode determiner 24 may determine that the current prediction unit is decoded without using the differential information of the current prediction unit.

In operation 54, if “Delta_dc_flag” is 1, the depth map frame decoder 26 splits the current prediction unit into partitions and prediction decodes the current prediction unit using the differential information.

In operation 55, if “DmmFlag” is 0, the depth map frame decoder 26 does not split the current prediction unit into partitions and prediction decodes the current prediction unit without using the differential information.

In operation 56, if “Delta_dc_flag” is 0, the depth map frame decoder 26 splits the current prediction unit into partitions and prediction decodes the current prediction unit without using the differential information.

Meanwhile, although an example of a method in which the depth map frame decoding apparatus 20 decodes the current prediction unit using the differential information is described in operations 51 through 56, it will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the method described with reference to FIG. 5 may be performed by the depth map frame encoding apparatus 10.

FIG. 6A illustrates an example of a syntax for decoding a current prediction unit using differential information based on prediction information of the current prediction unit according to an exemplary embodiment.

A syntax cu_extension( ) 60 for a current block may include a syntax 62 for determining whether to decode the current prediction unit using the differential information of the current prediction unit included in a coding unit. In this regard, it is assumed that DmmFlag[x0+k][y0+k] is previously obtained from a bitstream.

In a conditional sentence 63 DmmFlag[x0+k][y0+j]∥sdc_flag[x0][y0], DmmFlag[x0+k][y0+j] is a flag indicating that a DMM that is an intra prediction mode used in a depth image is used in the current prediction unit. That is, when DmmFlag[x0+k][y0+k] is 1, the DMM is used to encode the current prediction unit, and when DmmFlag[x0+k][y0+k] is 0, the DMM is not used to encode the current prediction unit. Meanwhile, sdc_flag[x0][y0] is a flag indicating that a segment wise DC (SDC) encoding tool is used in an coding unit including the current prediction unit. When the current prediction unit is decoded using the DMM DmmFlag[x0+k][y0+j] or the current prediction unit is encoded using the SDC encoding tool in the coding unit including the current prediction unit sdc_flag[x0][y0], an inner content of the conditional sentence 63 is processed by satisfying a condition. In a conditional sentence 64, when a prediction mode CuPredMode[x0][y0] of the coding unit including the current prediction unit is an intra prediction mode MODE_INTRA, “depth_dc_flag[x0+k][y0+k]” may be obtained from a bitstream.

Meanwhile, if “depth_dc_flag[x0+k][y0+k]” is obtained from the bitstream, it may be determined whether to prediction decode the current prediction unit using a delta DC value according to whether “depth_dc_flag[x0+k][y0+k]” is 0 or 1.

For example, “depth_dc_flag” is 1, the depth map frame decoding apparatus 20 may obtain the delta DC value from the bitstream and determine whether to prediction decode the current prediction unit using the delta DC value. In more detail, the delta DC value may be present for at least one partition. The depth map frame decoding apparatus 20 may receive the delta DC value for each partition included in a prediction unit from the bitstream in an offset and absolute value form and prediction encode the current prediction unit using the delta DC value.

FIG. 6B illustrates an example of a syntax for decoding a current prediction unit using differential information based on prediction information of the current prediction unit according to an exemplary embodiment.

A syntax 65 for the current prediction unit includes a repetitive sentence 66 (i.e., loop). In the repetitive sentence 66, “dmm_flag[x0+i][y0+j]” of a prediction unit included in an coding unit is obtained from a bitstream. The obtained “dmm_flag[x0+i][y0+j]” is a flag indicating that a DMM that is an intra prediction mode used in a depth image is used in the current prediction unit.

In a repetitive sentence 67 (i.e., loop), when the current prediction unit is encoded dmm_flag[x0+i][y0+j] using the DMM that is the intra prediction mode used in the depth image, “delta_dc_flag[x0+i][y0+j]” of the prediction unit included in the coding unit is obtained from the bitstream. “delta_dc_flag[x0+i][y0+j]” is a flag indicating whether to use a delta DC value in the DMM for the current prediction unit. If “delta_dc_flag[x0+i][y0+i]” is 1, it may be determined that the delta DC value is used in the DMM for the current prediction unit.

Meanwhile, if “delta_dc_flag[x0+i][y0+j]” is obtained from the bitstream, it may be determined whether to prediction decode the current prediction unit using the delta DC value according to whether “delta_dc_flag[x0+i][y0+j]” is 0 or 1. In this regard, a delta DC is one of differential information. For example, if “delta_dc_flag” is 1, the delta DC value may be obtained from the bitstream and it may be determined whether to prediction decode the current prediction unit using the obtained the delta DC value. In more detail, the delta DC value may be present for at least one partition. The depth map frame decoding apparatus 20 may receive the delta DC value for each partition included in a prediction unit from the bitstream in an offset and absolute value form and prediction encode the current prediction unit using the delta DC value.

The depth map frame encoding apparatus 10 and the depth map frame decoding apparatus 20 are described with reference to FIGS. 1 through 6B above. The depth map frame decoding apparatus 20 may unnecessarily perform an operation of obtaining differential information from a bitstream although the depth map frame decoding apparatus 20 does not decode the prediction unit using the differential information. Thus, the depth map frame decoding apparatus 20 according to an exemplary embodiment determines whether to split a prediction unit satisfying a predetermined condition using the differential information and perform prediction decoding and does not perform the operation of obtaining the differential information from the bitstream in relation to a prediction unit that does not satisfy the predetermined condition. That is, the differential information is transmitted for each partition of the prediction unit. When the differential information is 0 for all prediction units, the depth map frame decoding apparatus 20 does not have to obtain the value and determine whether the differential information is 0 in the prediction unit. However, according to an exemplary embodiment, when the depth map frame encoding apparatus 10 determines and sends the differential information, if differential information included in the prediction unit is 0, the depth map frame encoding apparatus 10 sends a flag set as “1” and included in a bitstream. When the depth map frame decoding apparatus 20 decodes a depth map in a DMM, the depth map frame decoding apparatus 20 may not obtain the differential information according to a flag value included in the bitstream and may decode a current prediction unit. Thus, the depth map frame decoding apparatus 20 may not unnecessarily obtain the differential information.

In the depth map frame encoding apparatus 10 according to an exemplary embodiment and the depth map frame decoding apparatus 20 according to an exemplary embodiment, as described above, video data may be split into coding units having a tree structure, and coding units, prediction units, and transformation units are used for inter layer prediction or inter prediction on the coding units. Hereinafter, a video encoding method and apparatus and a video decoding method and apparatus based on coding units having a tree structure according to an exemplary embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 through 19.

For convenience of description, because a video encoding process and a video decoding process based on a coding unit according to a tree structure, which will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 through 19, are performed on a single-layer video, only inter prediction and motion compensation will be described.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a video encoding apparatus 100 based on coding units according to a tree structure, according to an exemplary embodiment.

The video encoding apparatus 100 involving video prediction based on coding units according to a tree structure includes a LCU splitter 110, a coding unit determiner 120, and an outputter 130.

The coding unit determiner 120 may split a current picture based on a LCU that is a coding unit having a maximum size for a current picture of an image. If the current picture is larger than the LCU, image data of the current picture may be split into the at least one LCU. The LCU according to an exemplary embodiment may be a data unit having a size of 32×32, 64×64, 128×128, 256×256, etc., wherein a shape of the data unit is a square having a width and length in squares of 2.

A coding unit according to an exemplary embodiment may be characterized by a maximum size and a depth. The depth denotes the number of times the coding unit is spatially split from the LCU, and as the depth deepens, deeper coding units according to depths may be split from the LCU to a smallest coding unit (SCU). A depth of the LCU is an uppermost depth and a depth of the SCU is a lowermost depth. Because a size of a coding unit corresponding to each depth decreases as the depth of the LCU deepens, a coding unit corresponding to an upper depth may include a plurality of coding units corresponding to lower depths.

As described above, the image data of the current picture is split into the LCUs according to a maximum size of the coding unit, and each of the LCUs may include deeper coding units that are split according to depths. Because the LCU according to an exemplary embodiment is split according to depths, the image data of the space domain included in the LCU may be hierarchically classified according to depths.

A maximum depth and a maximum size of a coding unit, which limit the total number of times a height and a width of the LCU are hierarchically split, may be predetermined.

The coding unit determiner 120 encodes at least one split region obtained by splitting a region of the LCU according to depths, and determines a depth to output a finally encoded image data according to the at least one split region. In other words, the coding unit determiner 120 determines a depth by encoding the image data in the deeper coding units according to depths, according to the LCU of the current picture, and selecting a depth having the least encoding error. The determined depth and the encoded image data according to the determined depth are output to the outputter 130.

The image data in the LCU is encoded based on the deeper coding units corresponding to at least one depth equal to or below the maximum depth, and results of encoding the image data are compared based on each of the deeper coding units. A depth having the least encoding error may be selected after comparing encoding errors of the deeper coding units. At least one depth may be selected for each LCU.

The size of the LCU is split as a coding unit is hierarchically split according to depths, and as the number of coding units increases. Also, even if coding units correspond to the same depth in one LCU, it is determined whether to split each of the coding units corresponding to the same depth to a lower depth by measuring an encoding error of the image data of the each coding unit, separately. Accordingly, even when image data is included in one LCU, the encoding errors may differ according to regions in the one LCU, and thus the depths may differ according to regions in the image data. Thus, one or more depths may be determined in one LCU, and the image data of the LCU may be divided according to coding units of at least one depth.

Accordingly, the coding unit determiner 120 may determine coding units having a tree structure included in the LCU. The ‘coding units having a tree structure’ according to an exemplary embodiment include coding units corresponding to a depth determined to be the depth, from among all deeper coding units included in the LCU. A coding unit of a depth may be hierarchically determined according to depths in the same region of the LCU, and may be independently determined in different regions. Similarly, a depth in a current region may be independently determined from a depth in another region.

A maximum depth according to an exemplary embodiment is an index related to the number of splitting times from an LCU to an SCU. A first maximum depth according to an exemplary embodiment may denote the total number of splitting times from the LCU to the SCU. A second maximum depth according to an exemplary embodiment may denote the total number of depth levels from the LCU to the SCU. For example, when a depth of the LCU is 0, a depth of a coding unit, in which the LCU is split once, may be set to 1, and a depth of a coding unit, in which the LCU is split twice, may be set to 2. Here, if the SCU is a coding unit in which the LCU is split four times, 5 depth levels of depths 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 exist, and thus the first maximum depth may be set to 4, and the second maximum depth may be set to 5.

Prediction encoding and transformation may be performed according to the LCU. The prediction encoding and the transformation are also performed based on the deeper coding units according to a depth equal to or depths less than the maximum depth, according to the LCU.

Because the number of deeper coding units increases whenever the LCU is split according to depths, encoding, including the prediction encoding and the transformation, is performed on all of the deeper coding units generated as the depth deepens. For convenience of description, the prediction encoding and the transformation will now be described based on a coding unit of a current depth, in a LCU.

The video encoding apparatus 100 may variously select a size or shape of a data unit for encoding the image data. In order to encode the image data, operations, such as prediction encoding, transformation, and entropy encoding, are performed, and at this time, the same data unit may be used for all operations or different data units may be used for each operation.

For example, the video encoding apparatus 100 may select a coding unit for encoding the image data and a data unit different from the coding unit to perform the prediction encoding on the image data in the coding unit.

In order to perform prediction encoding in the LCU, the prediction encoding may be performed based on a coding unit corresponding to a depth, i.e., based on a coding unit that is no longer split to coding units corresponding to a lower depth. Hereinafter, the coding unit that is no longer split and becomes a basis unit for prediction encoding will now be referred to as a ‘prediction unit’. A partition obtained by splitting the prediction unit may include a prediction unit or a data unit obtained by splitting at least one of a height and a width of the prediction unit. A partition is a data unit in which a prediction unit of a coding unit is split, and a prediction unit may be a partition having a size that is the same as a size of a coding unit.

For example, when a coding unit of 2N×2N (where N is a positive integer) is no longer split and becomes a prediction unit of 2N×2N, and a size of a partition may be 2N×2N, 2N×N, N×2N, or N×N. Examples of a partition mode include symmetrical partitions that are obtained by symmetrically splitting a height or width of the prediction unit, partitions obtained by asymmetrically splitting the height or width of the prediction unit, such as 1:n or n:1, partitions that are obtained by geometrically splitting the prediction unit, and partitions having arbitrary shapes.

A prediction mode of the prediction unit may be at least one of an intra mode, a inter mode, and a skip mode. For example, the intra mode or the inter mode may be performed on the partition of 2N×2N, 2N×N, N×2N, or N×N. Also, the skip mode may be performed only on the partition of 2N×2N. The encoding is independently performed on one prediction unit in a coding unit, thereby selecting a prediction mode having a least encoding error.

The video encoding apparatus 100 may also perform the transformation on the image data in a coding unit based not only on the coding unit for encoding the image data, but also based on a data unit that is different from the coding unit. In order to perform the transformation in the coding unit, the transformation may be performed based on a data unit having a size smaller than or equal to the coding unit. For example, the data unit for the transformation may include a data unit for an intra mode and a data unit for an inter mode.

The transformation unit in the coding unit may be recursively split into smaller sized regions in the similar manner as the coding unit according to the tree structure. Thus, residues in the coding unit may be divided according to the transformation unit having the tree structure according to transformation depths.

A transformation depth indicating the number of splitting times to reach the transformation unit by splitting the height and width of the coding unit may also be set in the transformation unit. For example, in a current coding unit of 2N×2N, a transformation depth may be 0 when the size of a transformation unit is 2N×2N, may be 1 when the size of the transformation unit is N×N, and may be 2 when the size of the transformation unit is N/2×N/2. In other words, the transformation unit having the tree structure may be set according to the transformation depths.

Encoding information according to coding units corresponding to a depth requires not only information about the depth, but also about information related to prediction encoding and transformation. Accordingly, the coding unit determiner 120 not only determines a depth having a least encoding error, but also determines a partition mode in a prediction unit, a prediction mode according to prediction units, and a size of a transformation unit for transformation.

Coding units according to a tree structure in a LCU and methods of determining a prediction unit/partition, and a transformation unit, according to an exemplary embodiment, will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. 9 through 19.

The coding unit determiner 120 may measure an encoding error of deeper coding units according to depths by using Rate-Distortion Optimization based on Lagrangian multipliers.

The outputter 130 outputs the image data of the LCU, which is encoded based on the at least one depth determined by the coding unit determiner 120, and information about the encoding mode according to the depth, in bitstreams.

The encoded image data may be obtained by encoding residues (i.e., residuals) of an image.

The information about the encoding mode according to depth may include information about the depth, about the partition mode in the prediction unit, the prediction mode, and the size of the transformation unit.

The information about the depth may be defined by using splitting information according to depths, which indicates whether encoding is performed on coding units of a lower depth instead of a current depth. If the current depth of the current coding unit is the depth, image data in the current coding unit is encoded and output, and thus the splitting information may be defined not to split the current coding unit to a lower depth. Alternatively, if the current depth of the current coding unit is not the depth, the encoding is performed on the coding unit of the lower depth, and thus the splitting information may be defined to split the current coding unit to obtain the coding units of the lower depth.

If the current depth is not the depth, encoding is performed on the coding unit that is split into the coding unit of the lower depth. Because at least one coding unit of the lower depth exists in one coding unit of the current depth, the encoding is repeatedly performed on each coding unit of the lower depth, and thus the encoding may be recursively performed for the coding units having the same depth.

Because the coding units having a tree structure are determined for one LCU, and information about at least one encoding mode is determined for a coding unit of a depth, information about at least one encoding mode may be determined for one LCU. Also, a depth of the image data of the LCU may be different according to locations because the image data is hierarchically split according to depths, and thus splitting information may be set for the image data.

Accordingly, the outputter 130 may assign corresponding splitting information to at least one of the coding unit, the prediction unit, and a minimum unit included in the LCU.

The minimum unit according to an exemplary embodiment is a square data unit obtained by splitting the SCU constituting the lowermost depth by 4. Alternatively, the minimum unit according to an exemplary embodiment may be a maximum square data unit that may be included in all of the coding units, prediction units, partition units, and transformation units included in the LCU.

For example, the encoding information output by the outputter 130 may be classified into encoding information according to deeper coding units, and encoding information according to prediction units. The encoding information according to the deeper coding units may include the information about the prediction mode and about the size of the partitions. The encoding information according to the prediction units may include information about an estimated direction of an inter mode, about a reference image index of the inter mode, about a motion vector, about a chroma component of an intra mode, and about an interpolation method of the intra mode.

Information about a maximum size of the coding unit defined according to pictures, slices, or GOPs, and information about a maximum depth may be inserted into a header of a bitstream, a sequence parameter set, or a picture parameter set.

Information about a maximum size of the transformation unit permitted with respect to a current video, and information about a minimum size of the transformation unit may also be output through a header of a bitstream, a sequence parameter set, or a picture parameter set. The outputter 130 may encode and output reference information, prediction information, slice type information, etc. related to prediction.

In the video encoding apparatus 100, the deeper coding unit may be a coding unit obtained by dividing a height or width of a coding unit of an upper depth, which is one layer above, by two. In other words, when the size of the coding unit of the current depth is 2N×2N, the size of the coding unit of the lower depth is N×N. Also, the coding unit with the current depth having a size of 2N×2N may include a maximum of 4 of the coding units with the lower depth.

Accordingly, the video encoding apparatus 100 may form the coding units having the tree structure by determining coding units having an optimum shape and an optimum size for each LCU, based on the size of the LCU and the maximum depth determined considering characteristics of the current picture. Also, because encoding may be performed on each LCU by using any one of various prediction modes and transformations, an optimum encoding mode may be determined considering characteristics of the coding unit of various image sizes.

Thus, if an image having a high resolution or a large amount of data is encoded in a conventional macroblock, the number of macroblocks per picture excessively increases. Accordingly, the number of pieces of compressed information generated for each macroblock increases, and thus it is difficult to transmit the compressed information and data compression efficiency decreases. However, by using the video encoding apparatus 100, image compression efficiency may be increased because a coding unit is adjusted while considering characteristics of an image while increasing a maximum size of a coding unit while considering a size of the image.

The depth map frame encoding apparatus 10 described with reference to FIG. 1A may include as many video encoding apparatuses 100 as the number of layers in order to encode single-layer images for respective layers of a multi-layer video. For example, the color frame encoder 12 may include a single video encoding apparatus 100 and the depth map prediction mode determiner 14 may include as many video encoding apparatuses 100 as the number of additional views.

When the video encoding apparatus 100 encodes first layer images, the coding determiner 120 may determine a prediction unit for inter prediction for each respective coding unit according to a tree structure for each largest coding unit and may perform inter prediction for each respective prediction unit.

When the video encoding apparatus 100 encodes second layer images, the coding determiner 120 may also determine a prediction unit and a coding unit according to a tree structure for each largest coding unit and may perform inter prediction for each respective prediction unit.

The video encoding apparatus 100 may encode a brightness difference between first and second layer images for compensating for the brightness difference. However, whether to perform brightness compensation may be determined according to an encoding mode of a coding unit. For example, the brightness compensation may be performed only on a prediction unit of 2N×2N.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a video decoding apparatus 200 based on coding units having a tree structure, according to an exemplary embodiment.

The video decoding apparatus 200 that involves video prediction based on coding units having a tree structure includes a receiver 210, an image data and encoding information extractor 220, and an image data decoder 230.

Definitions of various terms, such as a coding unit, a depth, a prediction unit, a transformation unit, and information about various encoding modes, for decoding operations of the video decoding apparatus 200 are identical to those described with reference to FIG. 7 and the video encoding apparatus 100.

The receiver 210 receives and parses a bitstream of an encoded video. The image data and encoding information extractor 220 extracts encoded image data for each coding unit from the parsed bitstream, wherein the coding units have a tree structure according to each LCU, and outputs the extracted image data to the image data decoder 230. The image data and encoding information extractor 220 may extract information about a maximum size of a coding unit of a current picture, from a header about the current picture, a sequence parameter set, or a picture parameter set.

Also, the image data and encoding information extractor 220 extracts splitting information and encoding information for the coding units having a tree structure according to each LCU, from the parsed bitstream. The extracted splitting information and encoding information are output to the image data decoder 230. In other words, the image data in a bit stream is split into the LCU so that the image data decoder 230 decodes the image data for each LCU.

The splitting information and encoding information according to the LCU may be set for at least one piece of splitting information corresponding to the depth, and encoding information according to the depth may include information about a partition mode of a corresponding coding unit corresponding to the depth, information about a prediction mode, and splitting information of a transformation unit. Also, splitting information according to depths may be extracted as the information about a final depth.

The splitting information and the encoding information according to each LCU extracted by the image data and encoding information extractor 220 is splitting information and encoding information determined to generate a minimum encoding error when an encoder, such as the video encoding apparatus 100, repeatedly performs encoding for each deeper coding unit according to depths according to each LCU. Accordingly, the video decoding apparatus 200 may reconstruct an image by decoding the image data according to a depth and an encoding mode that generates the minimum encoding error.

Because the splitting information and the encoding information may be assigned to a predetermined data unit from among a corresponding coding unit, a prediction unit, and a minimum unit, the image data and encoding information extractor 220 may extract the splitting information and the encoding information according to the predetermined data units. If splitting information and encoding information of a corresponding LCU are recorded according to predetermined data units, the predetermined data units to which the same splitting information and encoding information are assigned may be inferred to be the data units included in the same LCU.

The image data decoder 230 reconstructs the current picture by decoding the image data in each LCU based on the splitting information and the encoding information according to the LCUs. In other words, the image data decoder 230 may decode the encoded image data based on the extracted information about the partition mode, the prediction mode, and the transformation unit for each coding unit from among the coding units having the tree structure included in each LCU. A decoding process may include a prediction including intra prediction and motion compensation, and an inverse transformation.

The image data decoder 230 may perform intra prediction or motion compensation according to a partition and a prediction mode of each coding unit, based on the information about the partition mode and the prediction mode of the prediction unit of the coding unit according to depths.

In addition, the image data decoder 230 may read information about a transformation unit according to a tree structure for each coding unit to perform inverse transformation based on transformation units for each coding unit, for inverse transformation for each LCU. Via the inverse transformation, a pixel value of the space domain of the coding unit may be reconstructed.

The image data decoder 230 may determine a final depth of a current LCU by using splitting information according to depths. If the splitting information indicates that image data is no longer split in the current depth, the current depth is the final depth. Accordingly, the image data decoder 230 may decode encoded data in the current LCU by using the information about the partition mode of the prediction unit, the information about the prediction mode, and the splitting information of the transformation unit for each coding unit corresponding to the depth.

In other words, data units containing the encoding information including the same splitting information may be gathered by observing the encoding information set assigned for the predetermined data unit from among the coding unit, the prediction unit, and the minimum unit, and the gathered data units may be considered to be one data unit to be decoded by the image data decoder 230 in the same encoding mode. As such, the current coding unit may be decoded by obtaining the information about the encoding mode for each coding unit.

The depth map frame decoding apparatus 20 described with reference to FIG. 2A may include as many video decoding apparatuses 200 as the number of views in order to decode the received first layer image stream and second layer image stream to restore first layer images and second layer images.

When a first layer image stream is received, the image data decoder 230 of the video decoding apparatus 200 may split samples of first layer images that are extracted from the first layer image stream by the extractor 220 into coding units according to a tree structure of a largest coding unit. The image data decoder 230 may perform motion compensation on respective prediction units for inter prediction for each respective coding unit according to a tree structure of the samples of the first layer images, to restore the first layer images.

When a second layer image stream is received, the image data decoder 230 of the video decoding apparatus 200 may split samples of second layer images that are extracted from the second layer image stream by the extractor 220 into coding units according to a tree structure of a largest coding unit. The image data decoder 230 may perform motion compensation on respective prediction units for inter prediction of the samples of the second layer images to restore the second layer images.

The extractor 220 may obtain information relating to a brightness order between first and second layer images from a bitstream in order to compensate for the brightness difference. However, whether to perform brightness compensation may be determined according to an encoding mode of a coding unit. For example, the brightness compensation may be performed only on a prediction unit of 2N×2N.

The video decoding apparatus 200 may obtain information about at least one coding unit that generates the minimum encoding error when encoding is recursively performed for each largest coding unit, and may use the information to decode the current picture. In other words, the coding units having the tree structure determined to be the optimum coding units in each largest coding unit may be decoded. Also, the maximum size of a coding unit is determined considering a resolution and an amount of image data.

Accordingly, even if image data has high resolution and a large amount of data, the image data may be efficiently decoded and restored by using a size of a coding unit and an encoding mode, which are adaptively determined according to characteristics of the image data, by using information about an optimum encoding mode received from an encoder.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for describing a concept of coding units according to an exemplary embodiment.

A size of a coding unit may be expressed by width×height, and may be 64×64, 32×32, 16×16, and 8×8. A coding unit of 64×64 may be split into partitions of 64×64, 64×32, 32×64, or 32×32, and a coding unit of 32×32 may be split into partitions of 32×32, 32×16, 16×32, or 16×16, a coding unit of 16×16 may be split into partitions of 16×16, 16×8, 8×16, or 8×8, and a coding unit of 8×8 may be split into partitions of 8×8, 8×4, 4×8, or 4×4.

In video data 310, a resolution is 1920×1080, a maximum size of a coding unit is 64, and a maximum depth is 2. In video data 320, a resolution is 1920×1080, a maximum size of a coding unit is 64, and a maximum depth is 3. In video data 330, a resolution is 352×288, a maximum size of a coding unit is 16, and a maximum depth is 1. The maximum depth shown in FIG. 17 denotes a total number of splits from a LCU to a minimum decoding unit.

If a resolution is high or a data amount is large, a maximum size of a coding unit may be large to not only increase encoding efficiency but also to accurately reflect characteristics of an image. Accordingly, the maximum size of the coding unit of the video data 310 and 320 having a higher resolution than the video data 330 may be 64.

Because the maximum depth of the video data 310 is 2, coding units 315 of the vide data 310 may include a LCU having a long axis size of 64, and coding units having long axis sizes of 32 and 16 because depths are deepened to two layers by splitting the LCU twice. Because the maximum depth of the video data 330 is 1, coding units 335 of the video data 330 may include a LCU having a long axis size of 16, and coding units having a long axis size of 8 because depths are deepened to one layer by splitting the LCU once.

Because the maximum depth of the video data 320 is 3, coding units 325 of the video data 320 may include a LCU having a long axis size of 64, and coding units having long axis sizes of 32, 16, and 8 because the depths are deepened to 3 layers by splitting the LCU three times. As a depth deepens, detailed information may be precisely expressed.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an image encoder 400 based on coding units, according to an exemplary embodiment.

The image encoder 400 performs operations necessary for encoding image data in the coding unit determiner 120 of the video encoding apparatus 100. In other words, an intra predictor 420 performs intra prediction on coding units in an intra mode according to prediction units, from among a current frame 405, and an inter predictor 415 performs inter prediction on coding units in an inter mode by using a current image 405 and a reference image obtained from a reconstructed picture buffer 410 according to prediction units. The current image 405 may be split into LCUs and then the LCUs may be sequentially encoded. In this regard, the LCUs that are to be split into coding units having a tree structure may be encoded.

Residue (i.e., residual) data is generated by removing prediction data regarding coding units of each mode that is output from the intra predictor 420 or the inter predictor 415 from data regarding encoded coding units of the current image 405, and is output as a quantized transformation coefficient according to transformation units through a transformer 425 and a quantizer 430. The quantized transformation coefficient is reconstructed as the residue data in a space domain through a dequantizer 445 and an inverse transformer 450. The reconstructed residue data in the space domain is added to prediction data for coding units of each mode that is output from the intra predictor 420 or the inter predictor and thus is reconstructed as data in a space domain for coding units of the current image 405. The reconstructed data in the space domain is generated as reconstructed images through a de-blocker 455 and an SAO (sample adaptive offset) performer 460 and the reconstructed images are stored in the reconstructed picture buffer 410. The reconstructed images stored in the reconstructed picture buffer 410 may be used as reference images for inter prediction of another image. The transformation coefficient quantized by the transformer 425 and the quantizer 430 may be output as a bitstream 440 through an entropy encoder 435.

In order for the image encoder 400 to be applied in the video encoding apparatus 100, all elements of the image encoder 400, i.e., the inter predictor 415, the intra predictor 420, the transformer 425, the quantizer 430, the entropy encoder 435, the dequantizer 445, the inverse transformer 450, the de-blocker 455, and the SAO performer 460, perform operations based on each coding unit among coding units having a tree structure according to each LCU.

In particular, the intra predictor 410, the motion estimator 420, and the motion compensator 425 determines partitions and a prediction mode of each coding unit from among the coding units having a tree structure while considering the maximum size and the maximum depth of a current LCU, and the transformer 430 determines the size of the transformation unit in each coding unit from among the coding units having a tree structure.

Specifically, the intra predictor 420 and the inter predictor 415 may determine a partition mode and a prediction mode of each coding unit among the coding units having a tree structure in consideration of a maximum size and a maximum depth of a current LCU, and the transformer 425 may determine whether to split a transformation unit having a quad tree structure in each coding unit among the coding units having a tree structure.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of an image decoder 500 based on coding units, according to an exemplary embodiment.

An entropy decoder 515 parses encoded image data to be decoded and information about encoding required for decoding from a bitstream 505. The encoded image data is a quantized transformation coefficient from which residue data is reconstructed by a dequantizer 520 and an inverse transformer 525.

An intra predictor 540 performs intra prediction on coding units in an intra mode according to each prediction unit. An inter predictor 535 performs inter prediction on coding units in an inter mode from among the current image 405 for each prediction unit by using a reference image obtained from a reconstructed picture buffer 530.

Prediction data and residue data regarding coding units of each mode, which passed through the intra predictor 540 and the inter predictor 535, are summed, and thus data in a space domain regarding coding units of the current image 405 may be reconstructed, and the reconstructed data in the space domain may be output as a reconstructed image 560 through a de-blocker 545 and an SAO performer 550. Reconstructed images stored in the reconstructed picture buffer 530 may be output as reference images.

In order to decode the image data in the image data decoder 230 of the video decoding apparatus 200, operations after the entropy decoder 515 of the image decoder 500 according to an exemplary embodiment may be performed.

In order for the image decoder 500 to be applied in the video decoding apparatus 200 according to an exemplary embodiment, all elements of the image decoder 500, i.e., the entropy decoder 515, the dequantizer 520, the inverse transformer 525, the inter predictor 535, the de-blocker 545, and the SAO performer 550 may perform operations based on coding units having a tree structure for each LCU.

In particular, the SAO performer 550 and the inter predictor 535 may determine a partition and a prediction mode for each of the coding units having a tree structure, and the inverse transformer 525 may determine whether to split a transformation unit having a quad tree structure for each of the coding units.

The encoding operation of FIG. 10 and the decoding operation of FIG. 11 respectively describe video stream encoding and decoding operations in a single layer. Thus, if the color frame encoder 12 of FIG. 1A encodes video streams of two or more layers, the image encoder 400 may be included for each layer. Similarly, if the depth map frame decoder 26 of FIG. 2A decodes video streams of two or more layers, the image decoder 500 may be included for each layer.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating deeper coding units according to depths, and partitions, according to an exemplary embodiment.

The video encoding apparatus 100 and the video decoding apparatus 200 use hierarchical coding units to consider characteristics of an image. A maximum height, a maximum width, and a maximum depth of coding units may be adaptively determined according to the characteristics of the image, or may be differently set by a user. Sizes of deeper coding units according to depths may be determined according to the predetermined maximum size of the coding unit.

In a hierarchical structure 600 of coding units, according to an exemplary embodiment, the maximum height and the maximum width of the coding units are each 64, and the maximum depth is 3. In this case, the maximum depth refers to a total number of times the coding unit is split from the LCU to the SCU. Because a depth deepens along a vertical axis of the hierarchical structure 600, a height and a width of the deeper coding unit are each split. Also, a prediction unit and partitions, which are bases for prediction encoding of each deeper coding unit, are shown along a horizontal axis of the hierarchical structure 600.

In other words, a coding unit 610 is a LCU in the hierarchical structure 600, wherein a depth is 0 and a size, i.e., a height by width, is 64×64. The depth deepens along the vertical axis, and a coding unit 620 having a size of 32×32 and a depth of 1, a coding unit 630 having a size of 16×16 and a depth of 2, and a coding unit 640 having a size of 8×8 and a depth of 3. The coding unit 640 having a size of 8×8 and a depth of 3 is an SCU.

The prediction unit and the partitions of a coding unit are arranged along the horizontal axis according to each depth. In other words, if the coding unit 610 having a size of 64×64 and a depth of 0 is a prediction unit, the prediction unit may be split into partitions include in the coding unit 610, i.e. a partition 610 having a size of 64×64, partitions 612 having the size of 64×32, partitions 614 having the size of 32×64, or partitions 616 having the size of 32×32.

Similarly, a prediction unit of the coding unit 620 having the size of 32×32 and the depth of 1 may be split into partitions included in the coding unit 620, i.e. a partition 620 having a size of 32×32, partitions 622 having a size of 32×16, partitions 624 having a size of 16×32, and partitions 626 having a size of 16×16.

Similarly, a prediction unit of the coding unit 630 having the size of 16×16 and the depth of 2 may be split into partitions included in the coding unit 630, i.e. a partition having a size of 16×16 included in the coding unit 630, partitions 632 having a size of 16×8, partitions 634 having a size of 8×16, and partitions 636 having a size of 8×8.

Similarly, a prediction unit of the coding unit 640 having the size of 8×8 and the depth of 3 may be split into partitions included in the coding unit 640, i.e. a partition having a size of 8×8 included in the coding unit 640, partitions 642 having a size of 8×4, partitions 644 having a size of 4×8, and partitions 646 having a size of 4×4.

In order to determine a final depth of the coding units constituting the LCU 610, the coding unit determiner 120 of the video encoding apparatus 100 performs encoding for coding units corresponding to each depth included in the LCU 610.

A number of deeper coding units according to depths including data in the same range and the same size increases as the depth deepens. For example, four coding units corresponding to a depth of 2 are required to cover data that is included in one coding unit corresponding to a depth of 1. Accordingly, in order to compare encoding results of the same data according to depths, the coding unit corresponding to the depth of 1 and four coding units corresponding to the depth of 2 are each encoded.

In order to perform encoding for a current depth from among the depths, a least encoding error may be selected for the current depth by performing encoding for each prediction unit in the coding units corresponding to the current depth, along the horizontal axis of the hierarchical structure 600. Alternatively, the minimum encoding error may be searched for by comparing the least encoding errors according to depths, by performing encoding for each depth as the depth deepens along the vertical axis of the hierarchical structure 600. A depth and a partition having the minimum encoding error in the coding unit 610 may be selected as the final depth and a partition mode of the coding unit 610.

FIG. 13 is a diagram for describing a relationship between a coding unit 710 and transformation units 720, according to an exemplary embodiment.

The video encoding apparatus 100 or the video decoding apparatus 200 encodes or decodes an image according to coding units having sizes smaller than or equal to a LCU for each LCU. Sizes of transformation units for transformation during encoding may be selected based on data units that are not larger than a corresponding coding unit.

For example, in the video encoding apparatus 100 or the video decoding apparatus 200, if a size of the coding unit 710 is 64×64, transformation may be performed by using the transformation units 720 having a size of 32×32.

Also, data of the coding unit 710 having the size of 64×64 may be encoded by performing the transformation on each of the transformation units having the size of 32×32, 16×16, 8×8, and 4×4, which are smaller than 64×64, and then a transformation unit having the least coding error may be selected.

FIG. 14 is a diagram for describing encoding information of coding units corresponding to a depth, according to an exemplary embodiment.

The outputter 130 of the video encoding apparatus 100 may encode and transmit information 800 about a partition mode, information 810 about a prediction mode, and information 820 about a size of a transformation unit for each coding unit corresponding to a final depth, as information about an encoding mode.

The information 800 indicates information about a mode of a partition obtained by splitting a prediction unit of a current coding unit. The partition is a data unit for prediction encoding the current coding unit. For example, a current coding unit CU_0 having a size of 2N×2N may be split into any one of a partition 802 having a size of 2N×2N, a partition 804 having a size of 2N×N, a partition 806 having a size of N×2N, and a partition 808 having a size of N×N. Here, the information 800 about the partition mode is set to indicate one of the partition 804 having a size of 2N×N, the partition 806 having a size of N×2N, and the partition 808 having a size of N×N.

The information 810 indicates a prediction mode of each partition. For example, the information 810 may indicate a mode of prediction encoding performed on a partition indicated by the information 800, i.e., an intra mode 812, an inter mode 814, or a skip mode 816.

The information 820 indicates a transformation unit to be based on when transformation is performed on a current coding unit. For example, the transformation unit may be a first intra transformation unit 822, a second intra transformation unit 824, a first inter transformation unit 826, or a second inter transformation unit 828.

The image data and encoding information extractor 220 of the video decoding apparatus 200 may extract and use the information 800, 810, and 820 for decoding, according to each deeper coding unit.

FIG. 15 is a diagram of deeper coding units according to depths, according to an exemplary embodiment.

Splitting information may be used to indicate a change of a depth. The spilt information indicates whether a coding unit of a current depth is split into coding units of a lower depth.

A prediction unit 910 for prediction encoding a coding unit 900 having a depth of 0 and a size of 2N_0×2N_0 may include partitions of a partition mode 912 having a size of 2N_0×2N_0, a partition mode 914 having a size of 2N_0×N_0, a partition mode 916 having a size of N_0×2N_0, and a partition mode 918 having a size of N_0×N_0. FIG. 23 only illustrates the partition modes 912 through 918 which are obtained by symmetrically splitting the prediction unit 910, but a partition mode is not limited thereto, and the partitions of the prediction unit 910 may include asymmetrical partitions, partitions having a predetermined shape, and partitions having a geometrical shape.

Prediction encoding is repeatedly performed on one partition having a size of 2N_0×2N_0, two partitions having a size of 2N_0×N_0, two partitions having a size of N_0×2N_0, and four partitions having a size of N_0×N_0, according to each partition mode. The prediction encoding in an intra mode and an inter mode may be performed on the partitions having the sizes of 2N_0×2N_0, N_0×2N_0, 2N_0×N_0, and N_0×N_0. The prediction encoding in a skip mode is performed only on the partition having the size of 2N_0×2N_0.

If an encoding error is smallest in one of the partition modes 912 through 916, the prediction unit 910 may not be split into a lower depth.

If the encoding error is the smallest in the partition mode 918, a depth is changed from 0 to 1 to split the partition mode 918 in operation 920, and encoding is repeatedly performed on coding units 930 having a depth of 2 and a size of N_0×N_0 to search for a minimum encoding error.

A prediction unit 940 for prediction encoding the coding unit 930 having a depth of 1 and a size of 2N_1×2N_1 (=N_0×N_0) may include partitions of a partition mode 942 having a size of 2N_1×2N_1, a partition mode 944 having a size of 2N_1×N_1, a partition mode 946 having a size of N_1×2N_1, and a partition mode 948 having a size of N_1×N_1.

If an encoding error is the smallest in the partition mode 948, a depth is changed from 1 to 2 to split the partition mode 948 in operation 950, and encoding is repeatedly performed on coding units 960, which have a depth of 2 and a size of N_2×N_2 to search for a minimum encoding error.

When a maximum depth is d, split operation according to each depth may be performed up to when a depth becomes d−1, and splitting information may be encoded as up to when a depth is one of 0 to d−2. In other words, when encoding is performed up to when the depth is d−1 after a coding unit corresponding to a depth of d−2 is split in operation 970, a prediction unit 990 for prediction encoding a coding unit 980 having a depth of d−1 and a size of 2N_(d−1)×2N_(d−1) may include partitions of a partition mode 992 having a size of 2N_(d−1)×2N_(d−1), a partition mode 994 having a size of 2N_(d−1)×N_(d−1), a partition mode 996 having a size of N_(d−1)×2N_(d−1), and a partition mode 998 having a size of N_(d−1)×N_(d−1).

Prediction encoding may be repeatedly performed on one partition having a size of 2N_(d−1)×2N_(d−1), two partitions having a size of 2N_(d−1)×N_(d−1), two partitions having a size of N_(d−1)×2N_(d−1), four partitions having a size of N_(d−1)×N_(d−1) from among the partition modes 992 through 998 to search for a partition mode having a minimum encoding error.

Even when the partition mode 998 has the minimum encoding error, because a maximum depth is d, a coding unit CU_(d−1) having a depth of d−1 is no longer split to a lower depth, and a depth for the coding units constituting a current LCU 900 is determined to be d−1 and a partition mode of the current LCU 900 may be determined to be N_(d−1)×N_(d−1). Also, because the maximum depth is d and an SCU 980 having a lowermost depth of d−1 is no longer split to a lower depth, splitting information for the SCU 980 is not set.

A data unit 999 may be a ‘minimum unit’ for the current LCU. A minimum unit according to an exemplary embodiment may be a square data unit obtained by splitting an SCU 980 by 4. By performing the encoding repeatedly, the video encoding apparatus 100 may select a depth having the least encoding error by comparing encoding errors according to depths of the coding unit 900 to determine a depth, and set a corresponding partition mode and a prediction mode as an encoding mode of the depth.

As such, the minimum encoding errors according to depths are compared in all of the depths of 1 through d, and a depth having the least encoding error may be determined as a depth. The depth, the partition mode of the prediction unit, and the prediction mode may be encoded and transmitted as information about an encoding mode. Also, because a coding unit is split from a depth of 0 to a depth, only splitting information of the depth is set to 0, and splitting information of depths excluding the depth is set to 1.

The image data and encoding information extractor 220 of the video decoding apparatus 200 may extract and use the information about the depth and the prediction unit of the coding unit 900 to decode the partition 912. The video decoding apparatus 200 may determine a depth, in which splitting information is 0, as a depth by using splitting information according to depths, and use information about an encoding mode of the corresponding depth for decoding.

FIGS. 16 through 18 are diagrams for describing a relationship between coding units 1010, prediction units 1060, and transformation units 1070, according to an exemplary embodiment.

The coding units 1010 are coding units having a tree structure, corresponding to depths determined by the video encoding apparatus 100, in a LCU. The prediction units 1060 are partitions of prediction units of each of the coding units 1010, and the transformation units 1070 are transformation units of each of the coding units 1010.

When a depth of a LCU is 0 in the coding units 1010, depths of coding units 1012 and 1054 are 1, depths of coding units 1014, 1016, 1018, 1028, 1050, and 1052 are 2, depths of coding units 1020, 1022, 1024, 1026, 1030, 1032, and 1048 are 3, and depths of coding units 1040, 1042, 1044, and 1046 are 4.

In the prediction units 1060, some coding units 1014, 1016, 1022, 1032, 1048, 1050, 1052, and 1054 are obtained by splitting the coding units in the coding units 1010. In other words, partition modes in the coding units 1014, 1022, 1050, and 1054 have a size of 2N×N, partition modes in the coding units 1016, 1048, and 1052 have a size of N×2N, and a partition mode of the coding unit 1032 has a size of N×N. Prediction units and partitions of the coding units 1010 are smaller than or equal to each coding unit.

Transformation or inverse transformation is performed on image data of the coding unit 1052 in the transformation units 1070 in a data unit that is smaller than the coding unit 1052. Also, the coding units 1014, 1016, 1022, 1032, 1048, 1050, and 1052 in the transformation units 1070 are different from those in the prediction units 1060 in terms of sizes and shapes. In other words, the video encoding and decoding apparatuses 100 and 200 may perform intra prediction, motion estimation, motion compensation, transformation, and inverse transformation individually on a data unit in the same coding unit.

Accordingly, encoding is recursively performed on each of coding units having a hierarchical structure in each region of a LCU to determine an optimum coding unit, and thus coding units having a recursive tree structure may be obtained. Encoding information may include splitting information about a coding unit, information about a partition mode, information about a prediction mode, and information about a size of a transformation unit. Table 1 shows the encoding information that may be set by the video encoding and decoding apparatuses 100 and 200.

TABLE 1 Splitting information 0 Splitting (Encoding on Coding Unit having Size of 2N × 2N and Current Depth of d) information 1 Prediction Partition mode Size of Transformation Unit Repeatedly Mode Encode Intra Symmetrical Asymmetrical Splitting Splitting Coding Units Inter Partition Partition information 0 of information 1 of having Lower mode mode Transformation Unit Transformation Unit Depth of Skip (Only 2N × 2N 2N × nU 2N × 2N N × N d + 1 2N × 2N) 2N × N 2N × nD (Symmetrical Type) N × 2N nL × 2N N/2 × N/2 N × N nR × 2N (Asymmetrical Type)

The outputter 130 of the video encoding apparatus 100 may output the encoding information about the coding units having a tree structure, and the image data and encoding information extractor 220 of the video decoding apparatus 200 may extract the encoding information about the coding units having a tree structure from a received bitstream.

Splitting information indicates whether a current coding unit is split into coding units of a lower depth. If splitting information of a current depth d is 0, a depth, in which a current coding unit is no longer split into a lower depth, is a final depth, and thus information about a partition mode, prediction mode, and a size of a transformation unit may be defined for the final depth. If the current coding unit is further split according to the splitting information, encoding is independently performed on four split coding units of a lower depth.

A prediction mode may be one of an intra mode, an inter mode, and a skip mode. The intra mode and the inter mode may be defined in all partition modes, and the skip mode is defined only in a partition mode having a size of 2N×2N.

The information about the partition mode may indicate symmetrical partition modes having sizes of 2N×2N, 2N×N, N×2N, and N×N, which are obtained by symmetrically splitting a height or a width of a prediction unit, and asymmetrical partition modes having sizes of 2N×nU, 2N×nD, nL×2N, and nR×2N, which are obtained by asymmetrically splitting the height or width of the prediction unit. The asymmetrical partition modes having the sizes of 2N×nU and 2N×nD may be respectively obtained by splitting the height of the prediction unit in 1:3 and 3:1, and the asymmetrical partition modes having the sizes of nL×2N and nR×2N may be respectively obtained by splitting the width of the prediction unit in 1:3 and 3:1

The size of the transformation unit may be set to be two types in the intra mode and two types in the inter mode. In other words, if splitting information of the transformation unit is 0, the size of the transformation unit may be 2N×2N, which is the size of the current coding unit. If splitting information of the transformation unit is 1, the transformation units may be obtained by splitting the current coding unit. Also, if a partition mode of the current coding unit having the size of 2N×2N is a symmetrical partition mode, a size of a transformation unit may be N×N, and if the partition mode of the current coding unit is an asymmetrical partition mode, the size of the transformation unit may be N/2×N/2.

The encoding information about coding units having a tree structure may include at least one of a coding unit corresponding to a depth, a prediction unit, and a minimum unit. The coding unit corresponding to the depth may include at least one of a prediction unit and a minimum unit containing the same encoding information.

Accordingly, it is determined whether adjacent data units are included in the same coding unit corresponding to the depth by comparing encoding information of the adjacent data units. Also, a corresponding coding unit corresponding to a depth is determined by using encoding information of a data unit, and thus a distribution of depths in a LCU may be determined.

Accordingly, if a current coding unit is predicted based on encoding information of adjacent data units, encoding information of data units in deeper coding units adjacent to the current coding unit may be directly referred to and used.

Alternatively, if a current coding unit is predicted based on encoding information of adjacent data units, data units adjacent to the current coding unit are searched using encoded information of the data units, and the searched adjacent coding units may be referred for predicting the current coding unit.

FIG. 19 is a diagram for describing a relationship between a coding unit, a prediction unit, and a transformation unit, according to encoding mode information of Table 1.

A LCU 1300 includes coding units 1302, 1304, 1306, 1312, 1314, 1316, and 1318 of depths. Here, because the coding unit 1318 is a coding unit of a depth, splitting information may be set to 0. Information about a partition mode of the coding unit 1318 having a size of 2N×2N may be set to be one of a partition mode 1322 having a size of 2N×2N, a partition mode 1324 having a size of 2N×N, a partition mode 1326 having a size of N×2N, a partition mode 1328 having a size of N×N, a partition mode 1332 having a size of 2N×nU, a partition mode 1334 having a size of 2N×nD, a partition mode 1336 having a size of nL×2N, and a partition mode 1338 having a size of nR×2N.

Splitting information (TU size flag) of a transformation unit is a type of a transformation index. The size of the transformation unit corresponding to the transformation index may be changed according to a prediction unit type or partition mode of the coding unit.

For example, when the partition mode is set to be symmetrical, i.e. the partition mode 1322, 1324, 1326, or 1328, a transformation unit 1342 having a size of 2N×2N is set if a TU size flag of a transformation unit is 0, and a transformation unit 1344 having a size of N×N is set if a TU size flag is 1.

When the partition mode is set to be asymmetrical, i.e., the partition mode 1332, 1334, 1336, or 1338, a transformation unit 1352 having a size of 2N×2N is set if a TU size flag is 0, and a transformation unit 1354 having a size of N/2×N/2 is set if a TU size flag is 1.

Referring to FIG. 19, the TU size flag is a flag having a value or 0 or 1, but the TU size flag is not limited to 1 bit, and a transformation unit may be hierarchically split having a tree structure while the TU size flag increases from 0. Splitting information (TU size flag) of a transformation unit may be an example of a transformation index.

In this case, the size of a transformation unit that has been actually used may be expressed by using a TU size flag of a transformation unit, according to an exemplary embodiment, together with a maximum size and minimum size of the transformation unit. The video encoding apparatus 100 is capable of encoding maximum transformation unit size information, minimum transformation unit size information, and a maximum TU size flag. The result of encoding the maximum transformation unit size information, the minimum transformation unit size information, and the maximum TU size flag may be inserted into an SPS. The video decoding apparatus 200 may decode video by using the maximum transformation unit size information, the minimum transformation unit size information, and the maximum TU size flag.

For example, (a) if the size of a current coding unit is 64×64 and a maximum transformation unit size is 32×32, (a-1) then the size of a transformation unit may be 32×32 when a TU size flag is 0, (a-2) may be 16×16 when the TU size flag is 1, and (a-3) may be 8×8 when the TU size flag is 2.

As another example, (b) if the size of the current coding unit is 32×32 and a minimum transformation unit size is 32×32, (b-1) then the size of the transformation unit may be 32×32 when the TU size flag is 0. Here, the TU size flag cannot be set to a value other than 0, because the size of the transformation unit cannot be less than 32×32.

As another example, (c) if the size of the current coding unit is 64×64 and a maximum TU size flag is 1, then the TU size flag may be 0 or 1. Here, the TU size flag cannot be set to a value other than 0 or 1.

Thus, if it is defined that the maximum TU size flag is ‘MaxTransformSizeIndex’, a minimum transformation unit size is ‘MinTransformSize’, and a transformation unit size is ‘RootTuSize’ when the TU size flag is 0, then a current minimum transformation unit size ‘CurrMinTuSize’ that can be determined in a current coding unit, may be defined by Equation (1): CurrMinTuSize=max(MinTransformSize,RootTuSize/(2^MaxTransformSizeIndex))  (1)

Compared to the current minimum transformation unit size ‘CurrMinTuSize’ that can be determined in the current coding unit, a transformation unit size ‘RootTuSize’ when the TU size flag is 0 may denote a maximum transformation unit size that can be selected in the system. In Equation (1), ‘RootTuSize/(2^MaxTransformSizeIndex)’ denotes a transformation unit size when the transformation unit size ‘RootTuSize’, when the TU size flag is 0, is split a number of times corresponding to the maximum TU size flag, and ‘MinTransformSize’ denotes a minimum transformation size. Thus, a smaller value from among ‘RootTuSize/(2^MaxTransformSizeIndex)’ and ‘MinTransformSize’ may be the current minimum transformation unit size ‘CurrMinTuSize’ that can be determined in the current coding unit.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the maximum transformation unit size RootTuSize may vary according to the type of a prediction mode.

For example, if a current prediction mode is an inter mode, then ‘RootTuSize’ may be determined by using Equation (2) below. In Equation (2), ‘MaxTransformSize’ denotes a maximum transformation unit size, and ‘PUSize’ denotes a current prediction unit size. RootTuSize=min(MaxTransformSize,PUSize)  (2)

That is, if the current prediction mode is the inter mode, the transformation unit size ‘RootTuSize’, when the TU size flag is 0, may be a smaller value from among the maximum transformation unit size and the current prediction unit size.

If a prediction mode of a current partition unit is an intra mode, ‘RootTuSize’ may be determined by using Equation (3) below. In Equation (3), ‘PartitionSize’ denotes the size of the current partition unit. RootTuSize=min(MaxTransformSize,PartitionSize)  (3)

That is, if the current prediction mode is the intra mode, the transformation unit size ‘RootTuSize’ when the TU size flag is 0 may be a smaller value from among the maximum transformation unit size and the size of the current partition unit.

However, the current maximum transformation unit size ‘RootTuSize’ that varies according to the type of a prediction mode in a partition unit is just an example and the embodiments are not limited thereto.

According to the video encoding method based on coding units having a tree structure as described with reference to FIGS. 7 through 19, image data of the space domain is encoded for each coding unit of a tree structure. According to the video decoding method based on coding units having a tree structure, decoding is performed for each LCU to reconstruct image data of the space domain. Thus, a picture and a video that is a picture sequence may be reconstructed. The reconstructed video may be reproduced by a reproducing apparatus, stored in a storage medium, or transmitted through a network.

Aspects of the exemplary embodiments may be implemented as computer-readable code in computer programs and may be implemented in general-use digital computers that execute the programs using a computer-readable recording medium. Examples of the computer-readable recording medium include magnetic storage media (e.g., ROM, floppy discs, hard discs, etc.) and optical recording media (e.g., CD-ROMs, or DVDs).

For convenience of description, the inter layer video encoding method and/or the video encoding method described above with reference to FIGS. 1A through 19, will be referred to as a ‘video encoding method according to the various embodiments’. In addition, the inter layer video decoding method and/or the video decoding method described above with reference to FIGS. 1A through 20, will be referred to as a ‘video decoding method according to the various embodiments’.

A video encoding apparatus including the depth map frame encoding apparatus 10, the video encoding apparatus 100, or the image encoder 400, which is described above with reference to FIGS. 1A through 19, will be referred to as a ‘video encoding apparatus according to the various embodiments’. In addition, a video decoding apparatus including the depth map frame decoding apparatus 20, the video decoding apparatus 200, or the image decoder 500, which is described above with reference to FIGS. 1A through 19, will be referred to as a ‘video decoding apparatus according to the various embodiments’.

A computer-readable recording medium storing a program, e.g., a disc 26000, according to an exemplary embodiment will now be described in detail.

FIG. 20 is a diagram of a physical structure of the disc 26000 in which a program is stored, according to an exemplary embodiment. The disc 26000, which is a storage medium, may be a hard drive, a compact disc-read only memory (CD-ROM) disc, a Blu-ray disc, or a digital versatile disc (DVD). The disc 26000 includes a plurality of concentric tracks Tr that are each divided into a specific number of sectors Se in a circumferential direction of the disc 26000. In a specific region of the disc 26000, a program that executes the quantization parameter determination method, the video encoding method, and the video decoding method described above may be assigned and stored.

A computer system embodied using a storage medium that stores a program for executing the video encoding method and the video decoding method as described above will now be described with reference to FIG. 22.

FIG. 21 is a diagram of a disc drive 26800 for recording and reading a program by using the disc 26000. A computer system 26700 may store a program that executes at least one of a video encoding method and a video decoding method according to an exemplary embodiment, in the disc 26000 via the disc drive 26800. To run the program stored in the disc 26000 in the computer system 26700, the program may be read from the disc 26000 and be transmitted to the computer system 26700 by using the disc drive 26700.

The program that executes at least one of a video encoding method and a video decoding method according to an exemplary embodiment may be stored not only in the disc 26000 illustrated in FIG. 20 or 21 but also in a memory card, a ROM cassette, or a solid state drive (SSD).

A system to which the video encoding method and a video decoding method described above are applied will be described below.

FIG. 22 is a diagram of an overall structure of a content supply system 11000 for providing a content distribution service. A service area of a communication system is divided into predetermined-sized cells, and wireless base stations 11700, 11800, 11900, and 12000 are installed in these cells, respectively.

The content supply system 11000 includes a plurality of independent devices. For example, the plurality of independent devices, such as a computer 12100, a personal digital assistant (PDA) 12200, a video camera 12300, and a mobile phone 12500, are connected to the Internet 11100 via an internet service provider 11200, a communication network 11400, and the wireless base stations 11700, 11800, 11900, and 12000.

However, the content supply system 11000 is not limited to as illustrated in FIG. 24, and devices may be selectively connected thereto. The plurality of independent devices may be directly connected to the communication network 11400, not via the wireless base stations 11700, 11800, 11900, and 12000.

The video camera 12300 is an imaging device, e.g., a digital video camera, which is capable of capturing video images. The mobile phone 12500 may employ at least one communication method from among various protocols, e.g., Personal Digital Communications (PDC), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband-Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDMA), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), and Personal Handyphone System (PHS).

The video camera 12300 may be connected to a streaming server 11300 via the wireless base station 11900 and the communication network 11400. The streaming server 11300 allows content received from a user via the video camera 12300 to be streamed via a real-time broadcast. The content received from the video camera 12300 may be encoded using the video camera 12300 or the streaming server 11300. Video data captured by the video camera 12300 may be transmitted to the streaming server 11300 via the computer 12100.

Video data captured by a camera 12600 may also be transmitted to the streaming server 11300 via the computer 12100. The camera 12600 is an imaging device capable of capturing both still images and video images, similar to a digital camera. The video data captured by the camera 12600 may be encoded using the camera 12600 or the computer 12100. Software that performs encoding and decoding video may be stored in a computer-readable recording medium, e.g., a CD-ROM disc, a floppy disc, a hard disc drive, an SSD, or a memory card, which may be accessible by the computer 12100.

If video data is captured by a camera built in the mobile phone 12500, the video data may be received from the mobile phone 12500.

The video data may also be encoded by a large scale integrated circuit (LSI) system installed in the video camera 12300, the mobile phone 12500, or the camera 12600.

The content supply system 11000 may encode content data recorded by a user using the video camera 12300, the camera 12600, the mobile phone 12500, or another imaging device, e.g., content recorded during a concert, and transmit the encoded content data to the streaming server 11300. The streaming server 11300 may transmit the encoded content data in a type of a streaming content to other clients that request the content data.

The clients are devices capable of decoding the encoded content data, e.g., the computer 12100, the PDA 12200, the video camera 12300, or the mobile phone 12500. Thus, the content supply system 11000 allows the clients to receive and reproduce the encoded content data. Also, the content supply system 11000 allows the clients to receive the encoded content data and decode and reproduce the encoded content data in real time, thereby enabling personal broadcasting.

Encoding and decoding operations of the plurality of independent devices included in the content supply system 11000 may be similar to those of a video encoding apparatus and a video decoding apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment.

The mobile phone 12500 included in the content supply system 11000 according to an exemplary embodiment will now be described in greater detail with referring to FIGS. 23 and 24.

FIG. 23 illustrates an external structure of the mobile phone 12500 to which a video encoding method and a video decoding method are applied, according to an exemplary embodiment. The mobile phone 12500 may be a smart phone, the functions of which are not limited and a large number of the functions of which may be changed or expanded.

The mobile phone 12500 includes an internal antenna 12510 via which a radio-frequency (RF) signal may be exchanged with the wireless base station 12000 of FIG. 21, and includes a display screen 12520 for displaying images captured by a camera 12530 or images that are received via the antenna 12510 and decoded, e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) or an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) screen. The mobile phone 12500 includes an operation panel 12540 including a control button and a touch panel. If the display screen 12520 is a touch screen, the operation panel 12540 further includes a touch sensing panel of the display screen 12520. The mobile phone 12500 includes a speaker 12580 for outputting voice and sound or another type of sound outputter, and a microphone 12550 for inputting voice and sound or another type sound inputter. The mobile phone 12500 further includes the camera 12530, such as a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera, to capture video and still images. The mobile phone 12500 may further include a storage medium 12570 for storing encoded/decoded data, e.g., video or still images captured by the camera 12530, received via email, or obtained according to various ways; and a slot 12560 via which the storage medium 12570 is loaded into the mobile phone 12500. The storage medium 12570 may be a flash memory, e.g., a secure digital (SD) card or an electrically erasable and programmable read only memory (EEPROM) included in a plastic case.

FIG. 24 illustrates an internal structure of the mobile phone 12500, according to an exemplary embodiment. To systemically control parts of the mobile phone 12500 including the display screen 12520 and the operation panel 12540, a power supply circuit 12700, an operation input controller 12640, an image encoder 12720, a camera interface 12630, an LCD controller 12620, an image decoder 12690, a multiplexer/demultiplexer 12680, a recorder/reader 12670, a modulator/demodulator 12660, and a sound processor 12650 are connected to a central controller 12710 via a synchronization bus 12730.

If a user operates a power button and sets from a ‘power off’ state to a ‘power on’ state, the power supply circuit 12700 supplies power to all the parts of the mobile phone 12500 from a battery pack, thereby setting the mobile phone 12500 in an operation mode.

The central controller 12710 includes a central processing unit (CPU), a ROM, and a RAM.

While the mobile phone 12500 transmits communication data to the outside, a digital signal is generated by the mobile phone 12500 under control of the central controller 12710. For example, the sound processor 12650 may generate a digital sound signal, the image encoder 12720 may generate a digital image signal, and text data of a message may be generated via the operation panel 12540 and the operation input controller 12640. When a digital signal is transmitted to the modulator/demodulator 12660 under control of the central controller 12710, the modulator/demodulator 12660 modulates a frequency band of the digital signal, and a communication circuit 12610 performs digital-to-analog conversion (DAC) and frequency conversion on the frequency band-modulated digital sound signal. A transmission signal output from the communication circuit 12610 may be transmitted to a voice communication base station or the wireless base station 12000 via the antenna 12510.

For example, when the mobile phone 12500 is in a conversation mode, a sound signal obtained via the microphone 12550 is transformed into a digital sound signal by the sound processor 12650, under control of the central controller 12710. The digital sound signal may be transformed into a transformation signal via the modulator/demodulator 12660 and the communication circuit 12610, and may be transmitted via the antenna 12510.

When a text message, e.g., email, is transmitted in a data communication mode, text data of the text message is input via the operation panel 12540 and is transmitted to the central controller 12710 via the operation input controller 12640. Under control of the central controller 12710, the text data is transformed into a transmission signal via the modulator/demodulator 12660 and the communication circuit 12610 and is transmitted to the wireless base station 12000 via the antenna 12510.

To transmit image data in the data communication mode, image data captured by the camera 12530 is provided to the image encoder 12720 via the camera interface 12630. The captured image data may be directly displayed on the display screen 12520 via the camera interface 12630 and the LCD controller 12620.

A structure of the image encoder 12720 may correspond to that of the above-described video encoding method according to the various embodiments. The image encoder 12720 may transform the image data received from the camera 12530 into compressed and encoded image data based on the above-described video encoding method according to the various embodiments, and then output the encoded image data to the multiplexer/demultiplexer 12680. During a recording operation of the camera 12530, a sound signal obtained by the microphone 12550 of the mobile phone 12500 may be transformed into digital sound data via the sound processor 12650, and the digital sound data may be transmitted to the multiplexer/demultiplexer 12680.

The multiplexer/demultiplexer 12680 multiplexes the encoded image data received from the image encoder 12720, together with the sound data received from the sound processor 12650. A result of multiplexing the data may be transformed into a transmission signal via the modulator/demodulator 12660 and the communication circuit 12610, and may then be transmitted via the antenna 12510.

While the mobile phone 12500 receives communication data from the outside, frequency recovery and ADC are performed on a signal received via the antenna 12510 to transform the signal into a digital signal. The modulator/demodulator 12660 modulates a frequency band of the digital signal. The frequency-band modulated digital signal is transmitted to the video decoding unit 12690, the sound processor 12650, or the LCD controller 12620, according to the type of the digital signal.

In the conversation mode, the mobile phone 12500 amplifies a signal received via the antenna 12510, and obtains a digital sound signal by performing frequency conversion and ADC on the amplified signal. A received digital sound signal is transformed into an analog sound signal via the modulator/demodulator 12660 and the sound processor 12650, and the analog sound signal is output via the speaker 12580, under control of the central controller 12710.

When in the data communication mode, data of a video file accessed at an Internet website is received, a signal received from the wireless base station 12000 via the antenna 12510 is output as multiplexed data via the modulator/demodulator 12660, and the multiplexed data is transmitted to the multiplexer/demultiplexer 12680.

To decode the multiplexed data received via the antenna 12510, the multiplexer/demultiplexer 12680 demultiplexes the multiplexed data into an encoded video data stream and an encoded audio data stream. Via the synchronization bus 12730, the encoded video data stream and the encoded audio data stream are provided to the video decoding unit 12690 and the sound processor 12650, respectively.

A structure of the image decoder 12690 may correspond to that of the above-described video decoding method according to the various embodiments. The image decoder 12690 may decode the encoded video data to obtain reconstructed video data and provide the reconstructed video data to the display screen 12520 via the LCD controller 12620, by using the above-described video decoding method according to the various embodiments.

Thus, the data of the video file accessed at the Internet website may be displayed on the display screen 12520. At the same time, the sound processor 12650 may transform audio data into an analog sound signal, and provide the analog sound signal to the speaker 12580. Thus, audio data contained in the video file accessed at the Internet website may also be reproduced via the speaker 12580.

The mobile phone 12500 or another type of communication terminal may be a transceiving terminal including both a video encoding apparatus and a video decoding apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment, may be a transceiving terminal including only the video encoding apparatus, or may be a transceiving terminal including only the video decoding apparatus.

A communication system according to the various embodiments is not limited to the communication system described above with reference to FIG. 24. For example, FIG. 25 illustrates a digital broadcasting system employing a communication system, according to an exemplary embodiment. The digital broadcasting system of FIG. 25 may receive a digital broadcast transmitted via a satellite or a terrestrial network by using a video encoding apparatus and a video decoding apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment.

Specifically, a broadcasting station 12890 transmits a video data stream to a communication satellite or a broadcasting satellite 12900 by using radio waves. The broadcasting satellite 12900 transmits a broadcast signal, and the broadcast signal is transmitted to a satellite broadcast receiver via a household antenna 12860. In every house, an encoded video stream may be decoded and reproduced by a TV receiver 12810, a set-top box 12870, or another device.

When a video decoding apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment is implemented in a reproducing apparatus 12830, the reproducing apparatus 12830 may parse and decode an encoded video stream recorded on a storage medium 12820, such as a disc or a memory card to reconstruct digital signals. Thus, the reconstructed video signal may be reproduced, for example, on a monitor 12840.

In the set-top box 12870 connected to the antenna 12860 for a satellite/terrestrial broadcast or a cable antenna 12850 for receiving a cable television (TV) broadcast, a video decoding apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment may be installed. Data output from the set-top box 12870 may also be reproduced on a TV monitor 12880.

As another example, a video decoding apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment may be installed in the TV receiver 12810 instead of the set-top box 12870.

An automobile 12920 that has an appropriate antenna 12910 may receive a signal transmitted from the satellite 12900 or the wireless base station 11700 of FIG. 21. A decoded video may be reproduced on a display screen of an automobile navigation system 12930 installed in the automobile 12920.

A video signal may be encoded by a video encoding apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment and may then be stored in a storage medium. Specifically, an image signal may be stored in a DVD disc 12960 by a DVD recorder or may be stored in a hard disc by a hard disc recorder 12950. As another example, the video signal may be stored in an SD card 12970. If the hard disc recorder 12950 includes a video decoding apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment, a video signal recorded on the DVD disc 12960, the SD card 12970, or another storage medium may be reproduced on the TV monitor 12880.

The automobile navigation system 12930 may not include the camera 12530 of FIG. 26, and the camera interface 12630 and the image encoder 12720 of FIG. 26. For example, the computer 12100 and the TV receiver 12810 may not include the camera 12530, the camera interface 12630, and the image encoder 12720.

FIG. 26 is a diagram illustrating a network structure of a cloud computing system using a video encoding apparatus and a video decoding apparatus, according to an exemplary embodiment.

The cloud computing system may include a cloud computing server 14000, a user database (DB) 14100, a plurality of computing resources 14200, and a user terminal.

The cloud computing system provides an on-demand outsourcing service of the plurality of computing resources 14200 via a data communication network, e.g., the Internet, in response to a request from the user terminal. Under a cloud computing environment, a service provider provides users with desired services by combining computing resources at data centers located at physically different locations by using virtualization technology. A service user does not have to install computing resources, e.g., an application, a storage, an operating system (OS), and security, into his/her own terminal in order to use them, but may select and use desired services from among services in a virtual space generated through the virtualization technology, at a desired point in time.

A user terminal of a specified service user is connected to the cloud computing server 14000 via a data communication network including the Internet and a mobile telecommunication network. User terminals may be provided cloud computing services, and particularly video reproduction services, from the cloud computing server 14000. The user terminals may be various types of electronic devices capable of being connected to the Internet, e.g., a desktop PC 14300, a smart TV 14400, a smart phone 14500, a notebook computer 14600, a portable multimedia player (PMP) 14700, a tablet PC 14800, and the like.

The cloud computing server 14000 may combine the plurality of computing resources 14200 distributed in a cloud network and provide user terminals with a result of combining. The plurality of computing resources 14200 may include various data services, and may include data uploaded from user terminals. As described above, the cloud computing server 14000 may provide user terminals with desired services by combining video database distributed in different regions according to the virtualization technology.

User information about users who have subscribed for a cloud computing service is stored in the user DB 14100. The user information may include logging information, addresses, names, and personal credit information of the users. The user information may further include indexes of videos. Here, the indexes may include a list of videos that have already been reproduced, a list of videos that are being reproduced, a pausing point of a video that was being reproduced, and the like.

Information about a video stored in the user DB 14100 may be shared between user devices. For example, when a video service is provided to the notebook computer 14600 in response to a request from the notebook computer 14600, a reproduction history of the video service is stored in the user DB 14100. When a request to reproduce this video service is received from the smart phone 14500, the cloud computing server 14000 searches for and reproduces this video service, based on the user DB 14100. When the smart phone 14500 receives a video data stream from the cloud computing server 14000, a process of reproducing video by decoding the video data stream is similar to an operation of the mobile phone 12500 described above with reference to FIG. 24.

The cloud computing server 14000 may refer to a reproduction history of a desired video service, stored in the user DB 14100. For example, the cloud computing server 14000 receives a request to reproduce a video stored in the user DB 14100, from a user terminal. If this video was being reproduced, then a method of streaming this video, performed by the cloud computing server 14000, may vary according to the request from the user terminal, i.e., according to whether the video will be reproduced, starting from a start thereof or a pausing point thereof. For example, if the user terminal requests to reproduce the video, starting from the start thereof, the cloud computing server 14000 transmits streaming data of the video starting from a first frame thereof to the user terminal. If the user terminal requests to reproduce the video, starting from the pausing point thereof, the cloud computing server 14000 transmits streaming data of the video starting from a frame corresponding to the pausing point, to the user terminal.

In this case, the user terminal may include a video decoding apparatus as described above with reference to FIGS. 1A through 20. As another example, the user terminal may include a video encoding apparatus as described above with reference to FIGS. 1A through 20. Alternatively, the user terminal may include both the video decoding apparatus and the video encoding apparatus as described above with reference to FIGS. 1A through 19.

Various applications of a video encoding method, a video decoding method, a video encoding apparatus, and a video decoding apparatus according to the various embodiments described above with reference to FIGS. 1A through 19 have been described above with reference to FIGS. 20 through 26. However, methods of storing the video encoding method and the video decoding method in a storage medium or methods of implementing the video encoding apparatus and the video decoding apparatus in a device, according to an exemplary embodiment, are not limited to the embodiments described above with reference to FIGS. 20 through 26.

It should be understood that the exemplary embodiments described therein should be considered in a descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation. Descriptions of features or aspects within each embodiment should typically be considered as available for other similar features or aspects in other embodiments.

While various exemplary embodiments have been described with reference to the figures, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined by the following claims. 

The invention claimed is:
 1. A depth map frame decoding method comprising: reconstructing a color frame obtained from a bitstream based on encoding information of the color frame; splitting a largest coding unit of a depth map frame obtained from the bitstream into at least one coding unit based on split information of the depth map frame; splitting the at least one coding unit into at least one prediction unit for prediction decoding; determining whether to split a current prediction unit among the at least one prediction unit into at least one partition and decode the current prediction unit by obtaining information indicating whether to split the current prediction unit into the at least one partition from the bitstream; obtaining a flag indicating whether to perform decoding using differential information in a predetermined mode or to perform decoding not using the differential information in the predetermined mode from the bitstream and determining whether to decode the current prediction unit by using differential information indicating a difference between a depth value corresponding to the at least one partition and a depth value of the at least one partition predicted from neighboring blocks of the current prediction unit in the predetermined mode or to decode the current prediction unit not using the differential information in the redetermined mode based on the flag; obtaining the differential information from the bitstream based on the flag; and decoding the current prediction unit by using the differential information based on whether to split the current prediction unit into the at least one partition and whether to decode the current prediction unit by using the differential information, wherein the information indicating whether to split the current prediction unit into the at least one partition includes information indicating the predetermined intra prediction mode in which the current prediction unit is decoded by being split into the at least one partition.
 2. The depth map frame decoding method of claim 1, wherein the splitting of the at least one coding unit into the at least one prediction unit comprises: splitting the at least one coding unit into the at least one prediction unit based on information of at least one of a prediction mode and a partition mode of the at least one coding unit obtained from the bitstream and determining a structure of the at least one coding unit.
 3. The depth map frame decoding method of claim 1, wherein the decoding comprises: if it is determined that the current prediction unit is to be decoded without using the differential information, decoding the current prediction unit without obtaining the differential information from the bitstream.
 4. The depth map frame decoding method of claim 1, wherein the differential information comprises a delta constant partition value (delta DC).
 5. The depth map frame decoding method of claim 1, wherein the information indicating whether to split the current prediction unit into the at least one partition comprises a flag indicating a predetermined intra prediction mode in which the current prediction unit is decoded by being split into the at least one partition.
 6. The depth map frame decoding method of claim 5, wherein the predetermined intra prediction mode comprises a depth modeling mode (DMM).
 7. A depth map frame encoding method comprising: generating a bitstream comprising encoding information generated by encoding a color frame; splitting a largest coding unit of a depth map frame into at least one coding unit; splitting the at least one coding unit into at least one prediction unit for prediction encoding; if the at least one coding unit is split into the at least one prediction unit, determining whether to split and prediction encode a current prediction unit among the at least one prediction unit into at least one partition; if it is determined that the current prediction unit is to be prediction encoded by being split into the at least one partition, determining whether to prediction encode the current prediction unit by using differential information indicating a difference between a depth value corresponding to the at least one partition and a depth value of the at least one partition predicted from neighboring blocks of the current prediction unit; prediction encoding the current prediction unit by using the differential information based on whether to split the current prediction unit into the at least one partition and whether to prediction encode by using the differential information; and generating a bitstream comprising information whether to split the current prediction unit into the at least one partition and a flag indicating whether to prediction encode the current prediction unit by using the differential information in a predetermined intra prediction mode or to prediction decode the current prediction unit not using the differential information in the predetermined intra prediction mode, wherein the information indicating whether to split the current prediction unit into the at least one partition includes information indicating a predetermined intra prediction mode in which the current prediction unit is decoded by being split into the at least one partition.
 8. The depth map frame encoding method of claim 7, wherein the splitting the largest coding unit of the depth map frame into the at least one coding unit comprises determining a structure of the largest coding unit by splitting the largest coding unit of the depth map frame into the at least one coding unit, and wherein the splitting of the at least one coding unit into the at least one prediction unit for prediction encoding comprises determining a structure of the at least one coding unit by splitting the at least one coding unit into the at least one prediction unit for prediction encoding.
 9. The depth map frame encoding method of claim 7, wherein the predetermined intra prediction mode comprises a depth modeling mode (DMM).
 10. A depth map frame decoding apparatus comprising: a color frame decoder configured to reconstruct a color frame obtained from a bitstream based on encoding information of the color frame; a depth map frame decoder configured to split a largest coding unit of a depth map frame obtained from the bitstream into at least one coding unit based on split information of the depth map frame and split the at least one coding unit into at least one prediction unit for prediction decoding; and a depth map prediction mode determiner configured to determine whether to split a current prediction unit among the at least one prediction unit into at least one partition and decode the current prediction unit by obtaining information indicating whether to split the current prediction unit into the at least one partition from the bitstream, and obtain a flag indicating whether to perform decoding using differential information in a predetermined mode or to perform decoding not using the differential information in the predetermined mode from the bitstream, and determine whether to decode the current prediction unit by using differential information indicating a difference between a depth value corresponding to the at least one partition and a depth value of the at least one partition predicted from neighboring blocks of the current prediction unit in the predeterminded mode or to decode the current prediction unit not using the differential information in the predetermined mode based on the flag, wherein the depth map frame decoder is configured to obtain the differential information from the bitstream based on the flag and decode the current prediction unit by using the differential information based on whether to split the current prediction unit into the at least one partition and whether to decode the current prediction unit by using the differential information, wherein the information indicating whether to split the current prediction unit into the at least one partition includes information indicating a predetermined intra prediction mode in which the current prediction unit is decoded by being split into the at least one partition.
 11. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a computer program for executing the depth map frame decoding method of claim
 1. 